#put some respect on anzu mazaki's name

[likeabxrdinflight]

I've said before that I think, had atem stayed, anzu would have ended up being his best friend instead of jonouchi, partly because jonouchi is first and foremost yugi's best friend. but you know why else I think that?

anzu is, consistently, the first and sometimes only person to really acknowledge atem as his own person. she was the first of yugi's friends to realize there was another personality living inside yugi. then she was the first of their friends to realize he was a separate soul entirely, and not just an alternate personality. she was the one who valued his real name and identity so much that she bought the cartouche so that he would never lose it again. and finally she was the first and most consistent user of his real name from the moment they learned it. anzu has always respected and understood that atem is atem, not just "the other yugi."

she was also the first to support atem in his own, individual wants and dreams separate from yugi himself. and she did that for him first, before even yugi could bear to consider that atem might want to do something that would cause them to separate. anzu recognizes right away that atem's insistence that he's "fine with things as they are" is a lie he's telling himself, and she is the first to encourage him to stop putting yugi's feelings first and to consider his own needs, his own desires.

so I think in a world where atem stays, anzu would continue doing so. anzu would be the one yelling at everybody for accidentally calling him "yugi", even if atem insists it's fine. anzu would be the one encouraging atem to do the things he wants to do with his new life, whatever that may be. anzu would be the one pushing him to continue separating his life from yugi's. she would also be the number one puzzleshipper (or any shipper for that matter) if you take the story in that direction, and yes I do say that despite knowing anzu's feelings for atem. she would swallow her pain and pride and put on a brave face for him, because his friendship matters so much more.

(I also headcanon that's something they'd eventually talk about and work through together but that's neither here nor there)

of course atem would always be close with jonouchi, that bond is very special. and his relationship with yugi transcends most conceptualizations of relationships as we think of them- they shared a heart, a mind, a body. they're partners and always would be in some way, whether you ship them romantically or not. but to my mind, in the traditional sense of the word, anzu would be his best friend. 100%.

[cartoonus-maximus]

Okay, here’s the skinny on my puzzleshipping/tendershipping/other shipping alpha/omega AU.

. .

Yugi: omega

Yugi struggles from being picked on and bullied by alphas at school, as well as being attracted to his alpha friend Anzu, who isn't interested in him. To make matters worse, Ushio, the alpha who owns the apartment block Yugi and his grandfather live in, has been raising their rent and threatening to kick them out if they can't pay in some way.

Needing the money, Yugi turns to Kisara, the older omega sister of Bakura, who teaches him how to strip and pole dance. She helps him get hired at the club she works at, entertaining alphas and making money off it. After a week, Yugi is able to pay off Ushio for the month. He continues to work at the club, dividing his time between working in the evening, doing his homework at night, going to school during the day, and making time to cheer Jou and Bakura on at the arena.

Yugi eventually meets his alpha, a wealthy young man named Atem. The two don't move in together immediately, instead settling into a routine of meeting each other after they've each finished their respective jobs, often working on their homework together.

. .

Atem: alpha

Atem comes from a wealthy family, and lives with his alpha father Aknamkanon, his omega sister Mana, his alpha brother-in-law (Mana's husband) Mahad, his alpha uncle Aknadin, his alpha cousin Seth, and Seth's omega wife Isis. All very wealthy and from good breeding. Seth and Isis are not natural mates but are married for money, but Mana and Mahad actually are natural mates.

Atem is engaged to Ryou, an omega from another high ranking family. While he likes the omega and can find nothing wrong with Ryou, he still wishes he could find his natural mate instead.

Atem is fascinated by how different the upper and lower classes live and sometimes dresses as a lower class alpha and mingles with the people of the lower class. Sometimes, he even enters the fighting arena, where he gets pitted against scrappers like Bakura or Jou or Malik or Marik. He always loses the fights (and the winning coins), but the adrenaline and the feeling of being in a physical fight are addictive.

He meets Yugi by chance at the arena one evening and is surprised to realize that this lower class omega really in his natural mate.

Atem is attending classes on history and politics at the local university.

. .

Anzu: “alpha”

Anzu is an omega with old-fashioned parents. Her father is an alpha who goes to work and her mother is an omega who stays home and takes care of the house. But Anzu wants to be more than what an omega can be, so she starts spraying herself to make herself smell like an alpha. Her parents don't know about the scenting, the jobs she takes, or her career plans, while no one outside the family knows her true alignment.

Anzu's facade falls apart when she meets her alpha, Seto Kaiba. She and Seto fight about how she should live her life. Anzu wants nothing more than to be independent and hates the idea of depending on her alpha for everything, while Seto is baffled and doesn't understand why an omega would want to handle herself so completely; despite her behavior, Anzu is still an omega and she still needs emotional support and affection, but those are things that Seto has no idea how to give; Seto wishes his omega could just be satisfied with good food and fancy gifts, since those are things he knows how to give, but that's the opposite of what Anzu wants from him.

. .

Seto Kaiba: alpha

Seto comes from an upper class family, along with his alpha brothers Noa and Mokuba, and has inherited the family business after their father's “unfortunate and unexpected” death. Seto is engaged to Vivian Wong, the omega daughter of a business associate; Seto doesn't personally one way or the other for his fiance, but agrees to the marriage because that means the Wong's family business will become his someday.

Before he can get married though, he has a chance encounter with Anzu Mazaki, a lower class alpha who he quickly realizes is both an omega and his natural mate. He backs out of the marriage to Vivian (and Noa is more than eager to fill in his place), and begins communicating with Mazaki.

Anzu continues to live with her family, refusing to drop her entire life and move in with Seto just because he's her alpha, and also ignores him whenever the two meet in public. Seto doesn't go out of his way for her, preferring to call her on the phone once every few weeks, coldly and impassionately inquiring about her health and such.

Eventually, Seto decides to make Anzu come work for him, arranging for her to get into a fairly high paid position in his company. This escalates to making Anzu move in with him, leading to a lot of loud arguments and frequent, angry bouts of sex.

. .

Jounouchi: alpha

Jou's parents split up when his omega mother got caught sleeping around with other alphas, and he misses his little omega sister.

Jou's father died awhile back, forcing Jou to drop out of school and look for work. He performs in the fighting arena as a brawler three evenings a week, and also works loading goods in a warehouse during weekday afternoons.

Jou meets his mate in the fighting arena, a woman named Mai “the Peacock,” who is his opponent. She is an omega who doesn't trust alphas, much in the same vein that he doesn't trust most omegas. His relationship with Mai is rocky, but they make it work, becoming tag team brawlers in the arena.

. .

Honda: alpha

Honda hasn't found his omega yet, despite being in his twenties, years after most alphas and omegas pair off. He takes care of his omega friend, Miho, who can't seem to find her alpha, helping her handle her loneliness and heat. Their relationship becomes physical, as they both need to ease how lonely they feel.

Things get complicated when they meet a young man named Otogi, who is both Honda's omega and Miho's alpha, to whom Honda feels no mental attraction. Honda has the natural desire to have sex with Otogi and get him pregnant, but, as far as attractions and personal preferences, Honda is drawn to Miho and isn't interested in Otogi at all.

. .

Otogi: omega/alpha (“zeta”)

Ryuji was born with both the equipment of an alpha and an omega and can easily fill both roles. He has the ability to bear children and experiences periods, like an omega, but he experiences ruts instead of heats, like an alpha. He experiences attraction to both alphas and omegas, but in different ways. He worries about what sort of mate he has and what his mate would think of him.

Otogi goes through life self-sufficient, but eventually meets his alpha … and his omega. Who are already together. Over time, he, Honda, and Miho develop a strange sort of three way relationship.

. .

Ryou: omega

Outfits while living with his father -

Black and blue yukata with images of water, clouds, rabbits, and moons, with a yellow and silver waist band. One of his cheeks has a rabbit painted on it, while the other has the phases of the moon. Silver eyeliner, thick black mascara, cotton candy blue eyeshadow, glittery blue lip gloss.

Teal kimono with white and silver and pink flowers clustered at the bottom, with a pink waist sash. Pink and white and silver flowers are painted along one side of his face, spreading from his cheek up to circle his eye, matching the pattern of his kimono. Pink lip gloss that forms a heart on his lips, and matching flowers in his hair, a lacy veil covering the top half of his head.

Outfit when living with Bakura and Kisara -

Soft flannel pants, fuzzy bunny slippers, an oversized sweater borrowed from Kisara, a T-shirt stolen from Bakura.

Ryou has a chance meeting with his alpha as a child and doesn't recognize or understand the sensations. When he meets Bakura again in years later, he can barely contain his glee and launches himself at the alpha scrapper.

Ryou is from an upper class family and is engaged to Atem. He meekly agrees to the arrangement, but meets Bakura again by chance and dumb luck, recognizing Bakura immediately as his natural mate. He breaks off the engagement with Atem, angering his father, and instead moves in with Bakura and Kisara. His father is outraged that Ryou would throw away a good marriage simply because he's met his mate, and disowns him, leaving Ryou with no money and no inheritance.

Anzu helps Ryou get a job as a secretary at Kaiba's company, which doesn't pay as much as Bakura can win as a scrapper but supplies a much more reliable income as well as health benefits.

. .

Bakura: alpha

Bakura is a lower class alpha who dropped out of school awhile ago, choosing instead to hone his fighting prowess and becoming a professional scrapper at the fighting arena (winners get paid). He fights with and against other alphas, like Jou or Malik, and even omegas, like Mai or Marik, and they're all paid to put on a show for the audience.

Bakura met his natural mate by accident as a child and can't wait to meet him again. He meets Ryou by chance again and all but carries the omega off then and there.

When not sparring or scrapping, Bakura enjoys playing video games (sometimes against Jou or Yugi) and eating steamed dumplings. He lives with his sister, Kisara, in the same apartment block as Yugi and his grandfather, and often butts heads with the landlord Ushio.

. .

Kisara: omega

Kisara is Bakura's older sister, and she has practically raised him for the past several years. She doesn't expect to meet her natural mate at this point in her life, and is surprised when she sees Seth for the first time and her heart jumps.

Kisara works in a strip club as a pole dancer. She meets Seth when he takes Atem there to celebrate Atem's engagement to Ryou. Seth is already married, but, since his wife is already cheating on him with her mate, he doesn't see why he can't pursue his own.

. .

Malik: alpha

Malik is an alpha who fights at the arena. He often tag team fights with his omega mate, Marik. Malik is a brawler, while Marik is a scrapper. He and Marik perform under their “Evil Twin” personas.

. .

Marik: omega

Marik is an omega who fights at the arena. He often tag team fights alongside his alpha mate, Malik. The two share a few physical similarities, enough that people sometimes mistake them for brothers instead of mates, so they like to wear matching clothing and dye their hair similar colors, playing up the image and making a stage gimmick of it.

. .

. .

. .

Society -

The society is somewhat reminiscent of many modern countries. Buildings and architecture are very modern, with built in electricity and indoor plumbing. Vehicles and other technological devices are common, such as computers, televisions, and cell phones.

It isn't quite a first world experience, as there is less of a focus on luxury and more on necessity. Office jobs are considered cushy and are reserved for the upper class alphas, while lower level alphas do more physical sorts of jobs. Upper class omegas are allowed to get simple jobs or engage in activities that put them in the public eye, while lower class omegas are encouraged to stay home and raise children. Many workplaces won't even hire an omega, regardless of physical or academic qualifications.

Children of the upper class tend to be fairly well educated, and can choose to attend college or university from their teens and well into their thirties, where they can take classes about art, literature, history, politics, or anything else they desire. Lower class children are generally taught how to read and write and perform basic math by their parents at a young age, but may attend public school through their teens and into adulthood, where they are given crash courses in art, literature, history, etc., but are generally focused toward some sort of trade job or skill. Alphas who do not make it through high school often end up in the fighting arenas or in areas of unskilled labor.

Alphas and omegas are born with a natural mate, someone to whom they are bound at the soul. This doesn't make for perfect relationships necessarily, as mates can die before or after meeting each other, cheat on each other, or even grow to hate each other. They can also fall in love with another person to whom they are not mated. Most alphas and omegas meet their natural mate somewhere in their teens, leading to their marriage/mating and having children.

The people are split into four different types, split between two sexes (alpha and omega) and two genders (males and female).

Male alphas are generally tall and physically strong, their bodies producing large amounts of testosterone. Their bodies are built for physical combat and for spreading their seed. Male alphas are easily prone to anger but tend to be defensive and very protective of their omega mate and their children. Male alphas experience rut, a special hormonal cycle that can be triggered by their omega mate, during which time they are filled with the constant need for sex.

Female alphas, like their male counterparts, tend to be tall and strong and prone to aggression. While they still have wombs and a reasonable amount of estrogen, female alphas are capable both of getting pregnant and impregnating their omega mate. Female alphas will usually not choose to get pregnant, as their bodies are built more for combat and impregnating others, but they do possess the physical capability. A female alphas rut cycle is more closely tied to her period, but can also be triggered by their mate; because of the dual trigger, female alphas have the stereotype of being significantly more sexually active than their male counterparts.

Female omegas tend to be small, their bodies built with soft curves. They produce large amounts of estrogen, and are almost always ready and willing to be impregnated. Female omegas are generally fairly quiet and docile and motherly, their bodies built to bear children and their minds structured to rear children.

Male omegas are very much like their female counterparts, small and soft and round and filled with estrogen. Aside from a womb with which to bear children, male omegas also possess the physical ability to impregnate others, but usually don't get as much physical pleasure out of it as they get from being on the receiving end.

. .

Lower class -

Alphas experience rut and bouts of aggression, and tend to wear their hair short and their clothing loose and revealing. Ripped jeans, tank tops, tube tops, sports bras, wind breakers, boxers, and running pants are all common clothing choices among lower class alphas, both male and female. Alphas tend to be muscular, taking jobs with large amounts of physical labor. They tend to have strong, sharp teeth, and can grow their fingernails into claws if they choose. They often walk around barefoot if given the option. Alphas also tend to alter their bodies, getting tattoos and piercings and even filing their teeth, and are able to tolerate a great deal of pain.

Omegas experience both periods, during which they may avoid contact with their alpha mate, and heat, during which they are filled with the need and desire to get pregnant. Omegas often stay home, cooking, cleaning, and raising the children. Omegas usually prefer soft or warm clothing, such as sweaters, knee socks, cotton skirts, yoga pants, sweat pants, long sleeve T-shirts, vests, lingerie, bathrobes, fuzzy slippers, and anything else that provides physical comfort. Many omegas will also steal one or two of their alpha's shirts or jackets to wear, especially if the alpha's scent is on it. Omegas usually wear their hair long, and will also wear hats and makeup and jewelry.

Lower class alphas and omegas tend to marry their natural mate. Not always, but that is the general preference.

. .

Fighting arenas are places where lower class people go to watch and bet on alphas who fight each other for show. Think TV wrestling or non-fatal gladiator combat. The fighters mostly consist of alphas, but may also include omegas, all of whom tend to have a certain fighting style and stage persona. (Bakura is “the Demon,” Mai is “the Dancing Peacock,” etc.) During a fight, any non-fatal injury is allowed – the fighters are allowed to hit, punch, kick, knee, scratch, or even bite each other, so long as no one dies. The winners are paid a healthy amount of coin, but losers go home empty handed.

The two types of fighters are 'brawlers' and 'scrappers.' Brawlers tend to have a more specific style they use and may even use weapons in a match, such as bo staffs or wooden swords. Scrappers usually don't have specific styles, instead attacking with whatever strength and adrenaline their body possesses.

Jou, Mai, and Malik are all brawlers, while Bakura and Marik are scrappers.

. .

Upper class -

Wealthy alphas still tend to keep their hair cut short, but tend to wear expensive suits instead of active wear. They are generally quite lazy and overweight, but still strong enough to hold their own in a physical confrontation. Expensive suits, gowns, and pointy shoes are the customary uniform for alphas who come from money. Wealthy alphas usually work in business and politics, sitting at computers and desks in their office jobs, but some will opt for other jobs, such as teaching at universities (which pays exceptionally well) or even going into showbusiness with writing stories and acting in movies.

Wealthy omegas are similar to their alpha counterparts, often lazy and overweight, and generally wear elegant dresses, silk saris, and kimonos. Most wealthy omegas like to keep their long hair up in expensive pins, covered with silk head scarves and lacy veils, their faces painted with intricate images of flowers and butterflies. Wealthy omegas don't usually work, generally employing lower class omegas to raise their children for them while they sit around watching television or playing on their phone. Wealthy omegas may also opt to go into showbusiness, frequently starring as the beautiful love interest in movies. Essentially, wealthy omegas live a life of a trophy spouse.

Wealthy alphas and omegas are more likely to marry each other for wealth and power, whether they are mates or not. If one spouse leaves an unmated marriage for their mate, they won't be judged if the mate turns out to also be wealthy, but they will be sorely judged if the mate turns out to be from the lower class.