Authors note: I just recently watched episode 12 of GX and I've been reading a lot of other BastionxChazz fics, and then this was born. Enjoy!
Warnings: None
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX!
While he sat there, in his familiar room within the Yellow dorm, Bastion couldn't help but think about what he had just seen. The duel between him and Chazz had been one he'd never experienced before- or likely would again. The soggy cards he had pulled from the dock lay strewn around his room, various fans blowing them dry. He would have to rewrite the formulas on some of them, but that was okay. Nothing a little touch up couldn't fix. Besides, Bastion thought, there were more important things to contemplate. Things that couldn't be fixed.
In all his time at Duel Academy, he had never seen a look of actual emotion on Chazz Princeton's face. The Chazz Princeton. But as he stood there, watching as the ebony haired duelist was momentarily swept away by the water filling the arena, he had seen a look of panic and fear cross his face. Perhaps it was because the boy couldn't swim, or that he was afraid his clothes would pull him under the aqua. But no, that couldn't be it, since the look remained on his face well after the water disappeared and he lay in a broken heap across the room.
A sudden beeping drew Bastion from his thoughts, and pulled his attention to the portable fan near his desk. The alarm he had set near it beeped continuously as it waited for Bastion to attend to it. He had set it in order to give each card the precise amount of drying time, before they were re-examined for any true damage. He picked up Water Dragon, who had just finished drying and now had the crisp feeling he was accustomed to again. He switched it back to back languidly between his fingers. The stunt Chazz had pulled was childish, yes, but Bastion imagined he knew why the other duelist had done it.
In Bastion's eye, Chazz seemed like a child. He looked like he needed attention, to be loved and held when he was lonely and comforted when he was scared. And if Bastion knew anything about people, he would say Chazz was lonely. No matter who you were, begrudging lackeys were never as good as friends; and it was plainly obvious that Chazz had no real friends. If you asked Bastion, he would even say that Chazz had never had friends and therefore didn't know how to make them at this point in his life. He was no stranger to the confused looks Chazz would acquire when his little minions turned away from him without obeying his command, and he thought no one was looking at him. Perhaps this was how the boy was raised? Maybe he had no experience with others besides commanding them to do his bidding? The Ra duelist didn't really know; but he did know that he couldn't hold it against Chazz. After all, how could he be expected to do a total personality 360 from what he had been taught for 16 years?
The one thing Bastion would most definitely not forget for a long time to come was the expression on Chazz's face when Dr. Crowler had announced that he and Bastion would switch dorms. He had looked so absolutely terrified and sorrowful that Bastion could practically feel his heart snapping in two, and he could only equate the look that had marredhis features to a puppy that had been kicked and punished. The ebony haired boy's slate eyes had widened and Bastion could only imagine what was running through his head. He could easily assume that Chazz was simply angered at the fact that he had dropped from the top ranking first year student, to a middle-of-the-pack Ra Yellow. But something told Bastion that it was so much more than that. No one who was angered by the outcome of something looked so positively terror stricken as his opponent did. His eyes darted side to side as if expecting someone or something to jump out at him and attack. And if Bastion's eyes weren't playing games, were those tears in Chazz's eyes? No, this was quite obviously something more than anger.
Maybe, just maybe, this had to do with Chazz's home life? As a biased student, Bastion could only picture Chazz as living a luxious lifestyle that only someone as filthy rich as he was could. But then Bastion had really thought and he began to wonder. In all the duels he had even Chazz participate in, albeit not many, he never seemed to duel for fun. It was always to win, or to prove something. To prove that he could do it, no matter what.
So as Bastion sat there unconsciously studying the card that had defeated his opponent and unknowingly pushed him out of the academy, he knew why he hadn't taken the reward.
He had refused the offer to become an Obelisk Blue not because he wanted to become the top Ra student first, but because he knew that Chazz needed it more than he ever would.