Title: Just A Way To Say
Romance: Ryou x Fubuki
Timeline: This takes place after the last episode of Yu-Gi-Oh GX season one, but, obviously, before season two. In point of fact, it is the very last day that Ryou is at Duel Academia.
Notes: I wrote this for the 15pairings challenge on Livejournal. I will be writing thirteen other fanfics, each a different romance, for that challenge.
It was nearly sunset. Ryou stood there on the beach, watching as the shadows grew longer and longer. Even with everything that had happened in the last year, he didn't feel threatened by them. They were just there, the natural result of the sun going down.
"You know, you could catch a cold if you stayed out here long enough," a cheerful voice said from behind him. Ryou didn't turn around. He could have identified that voice from anywhere, regardless of how long it had been since he'd heard it.
"That's not always true," he replied. "I've done this before, after all."
Fubuki came up to stand beside him, slinging a casual arm around his friend. "I know. Asuka told me about it." He shrugged some, not a trace of anything in his features or voice to indicate that just a few short months ago, he had been steeped in the shadows. Very few had ever asked him exactly what he'd gone through, and Ryou was much under the impression that he himself didn't even know a lot of what had happened.
He had always thought when this day came that they would be leaving together. But now it was his last day at the Academy. In the morning, he would be boarding a plane with all the other graduates, and going back home. The dueling season would begin for the Pro Leagues very soon, and he would be going on his first pro tour. The anticipation sang along his veins.
But Fubuki would not be going on that tour with him, as they'd planned during their first year together. He had lost so much time in the darkness that he was going to have to repeat at least one year. Possibly two. That had not yet been decided, as far as Ryou himself knew.
"What are you doing here?" Ryou asked, still staring more at the crashing waves on the sand than at Fubuki. They had scarcely spoken to each other since Fubuki's return. Somehow, he didn't know how to talk to him anymore. He'd grown used to him being there, and then grown used to him being gone…and then back again, and now he was leaving. That sort of situation wasn't one that Ryou found himself comfortable with at all.
"I was looking for you." Fubuki answered. "You shouldn't be all alone tonight."
He wanted to ask when he was ever anything but alone. He'd enjoyed his solitude since Fubuki had vanished. He was glad to see the other back, but…changing his ways yet again hovered on the edge of painful.
"And why not?" he asked a different question instead. "This isn't that much of a different kind of night."
"Sure it is!" Fubuki replied just as cheerfully as always. One would never know what had happened to him by looking. "You're going to be going out into the big world and having all kinds of adventures dueling. Who knows, you could even meet the right girl! Or guy. You know, depending on what you want. Did you ever get around to deciding that?"
That was Fubuki. Only the mildest concepts of personal space, and he would ask almost any question that entered his head. If someone didn't want to answer, he wouldn't push them very hard, but that didn't stop him from asking the questions in the first place.
"There isn't any need for that. All I care about is dueling." Ryou said the same answer that he'd used whenever anyone asked the question. He'd used almost the same words before Fubuki had left. He'd only meant them more afterwards.
Fubuki just looked at him, a hint of something in his eyes that he'd never seen there before. "I don't think you're telling me all the truth," he said at last. There wasn't much more seriousness in his voice than usual, but more amusement than anything else. As if Fubuki knew something about him that he himself didn't, and he was only letting Ryou keep it to himself because it amused him to do so.
"Why do you think that?" Ryou didn't mind playing Fubuki's games once in a while. They were harmless, just like he was.
"Because I know you. You might've changed a little bit while I was gone, but I still know you." Fubuki touched Ryou's shoulder, and the contact sent an unexpected thrill all through him. It was more than unexpected, it had never actually happened before now.
There was yet another question he wanted to ask, but he couldn't get his mind wrapped around it suddenly. Not with Fubuki that close and looking at him in that way.
"What difference does it make?" Again he asked something that wasn't exactly what he really wanted to.
Fubuki still didn't seem anything other than amused by what he was saying. "This could be the last time we see each other for a while. Don't you want to make it memorable?"
And his fingers moved lightly from Ryou's shoulder to his cheek, touching in a way that Ryou had never been touched before, by anyone. His thoughts froze and he wasn't certain if he could have formed a sensible sentence at the moment at all.
Fubuki had always treasured love and friendship. Ryou had never forgotten that for a single moment. That kind of loyalty was one of the few things they had in common. But never had Fubuki made any kind of advance towards him at all. No one had, not even Rei. She'd worshipped from afar, when she'd done it at all, and she'd been too young to do anything other than that in the first place.
"Just a way to say hello again," Fubuki murmured, leaning in closer to him. "Just a way to say good-bye. Til we can meet again." His voice lent the words a cadence they might not have had on other lips, sounding almost like music. He'd always enjoyed listening to Fubuki sing. That was how they'd met in the first place. The other boy had been singing and dancing in a park in the city, and Ryou had stopped to watch him, caught by this stranger who appeared to have no notion of the word dignity.
He started to open his mouth to ask something, but forgot what it was as Fubuki's lips touched his own. Ryou had held himself aloof from human contact for most of his life, except for the most limited kinds. Fubuki was quite nearly his exact opposite, needing and wanting and indulging himself in contact of all kinds as much as he possibly could.
In other words, Fubuki knew how to kiss, and Ryou had very little experience to help him to cope with it.
When Fubuki finally leaned his head back, Ryou had thought he would move away and elegantly stomp off to pack his belongings and remain in his room until the flight left in the morning. Instead, he couldn't bring himself to move at all. His lips tingled as if they'd never actually been alive until that moment. Every part of him that Fubuki had touched was reacting in the exact same way.
"Well?" The other asked quietly, still looking into Ryou's eyes. "It's up to you." The offer had been made. Ryou knew how Fubuki operated for the most part. If he turned it down, there would be no hard feelings whatsoever.
He didn't want to turn it down. If there were ever going to be a time for this in his life, then maybe now was that time. He hadn't wanted to bother before, because he'd had his studies to deal with. He wouldn't let himself get distracted. And after tonight, he would be caught up in the world of professional dueling. It was going to be tough. He was certain he could handle it, but he wouldn't have time for anything but dueling.
Tonight, with his past behind him and his future awaiting him, he had a chance. No commitments beyond that of friendship, because that was as far as Fubuki ever committed himself, and as far as he would ever want it to go. A simple giving and receiving of pleasure from one another. Friends with benefits. He'd heard the phrase before and never thought much about it. Until now.
Friends always came first with Fubuki. Friends and family. Ryou could understand caring about family. It was what he himself did. Friends he was still working on getting a full grip on.
He could wait a little for that. He leaned forward and for one of the few times in his life, hesitantly brushed his lips across Fubuki's. He could not bring himself to say the words, but he knew something of the language Fubuki spoke, even if he wasn't fluent in it himself.
Those warm lips beneath his curved into a smile, and Fubuki began to kiss back. His hands reached up to move gently through Ryou's hair, caressing with the utmost tenderness. This kiss was a little longer, a little deeper, than the one before it, and when Fubuki moved back, it was only enough so he could speak.
"You know, I think we'd probably better go inside somewhere. Never know who could come along here."
He was right, of course. Ryou had accepted and looked forward to what they had planned, but that didn't mean he wanted everyone else in the Academy to know what was going on between the two of them. Even Fubuki had enough sense to realize that.
"Your room." Ryou said it quietly, not making it a question. Fubuki's room would be the most comfortable, for more reasons than he could conveniently count at the moment. Fubuki nodded.
"No problem." Ryou did not ask if Fubuki had the kinds of supplies that would be necessary for this tryst. This was Fubuki. He would not have been overly surprised to find out he'd been born either with those supplies or knowing the most convenient place to get them.
Going back inside the dorms was a little disorienting. Ryou had been outside longer than he'd actually realized, especially once Fubuki had gotten there, and his eyes had more or less adjusted to the darkness. Now, the light appeared to be everywhere, and he winced just a little.
"It'll be better in my room," Fubuki whispered as they headed up the stairs. There were still some students lounging around in the common areas, and none of them gave the two of them a second look. Seeing them anywhere near each other wasn't that much of a shock, even after all this time. None of them had any idea of what was actually going through Ryou's mind, or how far he'd thought himself from Fubuki, until now.
That distance had vanished now, though he wasn't certain for how long. It also appeared to matter very little at the moment. What was the future hadn't yet happened, and thus couldn't be taken into account. The past had already had it's effect and everything that he could deal with had been dealt with. Now was the only moment that mattered.
When they reached Fubuki's room, it was indeed better. He'd installed his own set of lights that he could dim or brighten with the flick of a switch, and as soon as they entered, he dimmed them to the point where Ryou's eyes wouldn't hurt quite as much, but they could still see to move around. Really, on the trip up there, his eyes had adjusted a little more, but he still preferred this, all things considered.
As soon as the door closed and locked behind them both, Fubuki pulled Ryou into his arms and began to kiss him again, even more thoroughly and deeply than the last two times. Each time just grew better and better in Ryou's mind. Even if this never happened again, he realized that it would be a memory he'd carry all of his life. There weren't enough of those that he truly enjoyed. He wanted this one to be one of them.
Fubuki moved forward, and Ryou stepped with him, keeping their arms around one another. Before he quite realized it, Fubuki was pulling him down towards the bed, and he went along without anything like a second thought. There was a drawer in the nightstand open, though he didn't remember seeing Fubuki open it.
"Thank you," he whispered softly, no other words quite able to process through his mind at the moment.
"Any time," Fubuki whispered back, and from then on, it was far too personal for anyone to intrude upon.
But Ryou never forgot that single shining moment between the two of them, a gift of love from the truest friend he would ever have.