Title: Not Party People
Characters: Shun, Kaito||Ship: Shun x Kaito
Word Count: 4,738||Chapters: 1/1
Genre: Romance||Rated: K
Challenges: Diversity Writing, Arc-V AUs, G22, K rated; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #38, 4,738 words; Arc-V Rare Pair Week Day 1
Notes: This is an AU.
Summary: Neither Shun nor Kaito are party people. So when they meet at a party, what do they do? Be very awkward, apparently.
For all that a party played out all around him, Shun couldn't really bring himself to do anything except stare into his cup of punch and avoid everyone. He wasn't a party person. He didn't think that he ever would be.
At least he had something to keep an eye on: or to be precise, he had someone to keep an eye on. The dance floor spread out not that far away and Ruri was out there enjoying the daylights out of herself.
So was Yuuto, for that matter. Shun spied him going by with that guy from somewhere else – the next big city down the road, whatever it was called. Shun suspected something more than punch was in this punch, since he couldn't recall the name and didn't especially care that he couldn't.
Anyway, Yuuto danced with that guy who looked sort of like him and as far as Shun could tell, he was having the time of his life. So was Ruri, who Shun now spotted with two other girls, chatting up a storm about something.
Everyone seemed to be having a great time and what he wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed. Whatever was in this punch wasn't doing a great deal other than giving him a mild headache.
He spied someone else making their way toward the punch bowl and decided it was his civic duty to interfere. Or at least to warn them; if they still wanted to drink it, that was their affair.
But first he rolled himself that way, having to weave around some of the party-goers. He wasn't at all certain of whose house these even was; he hadn't heard and no one around him seemed to have mentioned it. Fine enough; as long as no one expected him to pay for damages that he didn't cause.
The guy aiming for punch wasn't all that bad looking, if one were into blonds. His expression spoke more of annoyance than anything else at the moment, and Shun found himself wondering if this guy had already had some of the punch and had the same headache that he did.
"I think someone put something in that," he said as he got close enough. The guy hadn't scooped out any yet but he stared at it with a baleful look regardless.
"I know they did." His lips twisted for a few moments. "I didn't expect him not to."
"Who?" Shun cast a quick glance around. He didn't really see anyone else who looked as if they might have done that. Just about everyone that he could see looked way too interested in having a good time.
"Vector. Any time there's a party he shows up and does something like this." The guy waved a hand but if he meant someone in particular, Shun couldn't place them. Finally he shrugged and turned to face Shun. "Not my problem."
It wasn't Shun's either in that case. He eyed his punch and then dumped it back into the bowl. Let anyone else who wanted to get smashed do it. He'd had enough.
"Kurosaki Shun," he introduced himself instead. Maybe he could at least make an acquaintance. Ruri would be proud of him if he came away with evidence he'd actually talked to another living being for more than five minutes about any subject that wasn't dueling or school.
Shun didn't know why she insisted he at least try to do that. Sometimes his little sister confused him.
"Tenjo Kaito." The blond nodded a greeting before he looked around at the partying people again. A faint smile of satisfaction hung over his lips. "Are you having a good time?"
In full truth, the question sounded far more perfunctory than anything else. The sort of question one was meant to ask, but where he didn't care about the answer.
"Not really," Shun replied with only a breath of hesitation. "I don't like parties."
"Then why did you come?"
Shun nodded to where Ruri and her two new friends – he thought they were new, he didn't remember having seen them before – were in the middle of a lively chat about something he couldn't hear. She glanced up as if realizing he looked in her direction, saw who he was talking to, and nudged her friends. Both of them stared as well before all three started to chatter between themselves again.
"She's my sister," Shun said, realizing that a single gesture wasn't going to get matters across. "She insisted. So did he." Finding Yuuto took a little more time, especially since he'd somehow sprouted a second lookalike – where did they come from? This one had mostly blond hair but with a heavy streak of blue across the front – and the three of them were waving their hands and talking about something else. The party was too noisy for him to have any idea about what they were talking about, but he doubted it was anything that he would be interested in.
Kaito nodded, a small hint of a smile appearing now. "I have a little brother. He insisted on throwing this party."
"This is your party?" Shun wondered if that was why Ruri and her friends seemed so surprised about the two of them talking to one another.
"It's mostly Haruto's party. He's over there." Kaito gestured and Shun followed where he looked to see a little boy chatting with another kid. This other one he did recognize, though seeing Akaba Reira out anywhere was a surprise. The Akabas didn't socialize as a general rule.
He also wasn't surprised to see Akaba Reiji not all that far from his little brother, and neither of them had anything to indicate they'd had any of the punch.
Shun wouldn't have been surprised if Akaba Reiji could drain the whole bowl and not feel a single effect from it. Jerk.
"Did he just want a party?" Shun wondered. Little kids were like that at times, at least some of the ones that he knew were. Ruri had insisted on parties every now and then, and she wasn't always satisfied with having ones with whatever stuffed animals she had.
Shun preferred those parties. She didn't insist that he talk to the guests.
"Mostly. He also wanted me to meet people."
Shun had seen that soft look bent toward a younger sibling before, in his own eyes. Sometimes Ruri got on his nerves, but he would do anything in the world for her. Kaito would be the same way for his brother, he suspected.
"That's why I'm here. Ruri wanted me to meet people." And so he had met a person. He hoped she would be satisfied. He'd met his quota for the year now.
Kaito glanced toward him, thoughts of all kinds flickering across his face. Before he could say anything else, another question occurred to Shun.
"If it's your party, then why isn't it your problem about the punch?"
"Because everyone else here is old enough to drink except Haruto and one or two others, and those have people to keep an eye on them. And we have security cameras going so if anyone starts anything they shouldn't, my father's people will take care of them."
Good enough answer for Shun. At least if he had drunk more punch he wouldn't have been at an unacceptable risk. Still, he wasn't in any hurry to have anything other than water for now.
Kaito watched him for a few heartbeats, then turned and gestured for Shun to follow him.
For lack of anything else to do – Ruri was enjoying herself and he thought enough people here knew about him to make sure she kept on enjoying herself in ways that wouldn't upset either of them and Yuuto was too busy being wrapped up with his lookalikes to do anything else – he followed Kaito through the squirming bodies and through another couple of rooms, also filled with people chatting and dancing and doing who knew what else. He tried not to pay too much attention to the what else. Some things he genuinely didn't want to know.
Kaito led him in the end to a courtyard outside, one filled with well-kept trees and crystal-lined paths. A few benches had been placed here and there as well, giving people somewhere to sit, and where Kaito settled was next to a circular pool lit by flickering torches.
"Fresh air," he murmured, getting comfortable on the bench. Shun sank down onto the same one and breathed in gratefully. After the throng of people and whatever was in that punch, he needed something to clear his head.
He sat there for a few minutes, just breathing in the sweet scented night air and watching the play of firelight on water. He could hear the noise of the party still, but at this distance, it seemed more like a pleasant background effect than anything else.
"So this is your house?" Shun said at last, raising his head to inspect the garden and what he could see of the house itself beyond that. Kaito shrugged.
"One of them. Our father is the mayor. Most of the time we live there."
He gestured and this time when Shun followed, he saw the grand rising spire that overlooked all of Heartland. He'd sort of known that the mayor's family lived there, but he'd never entertained the notion of actually meeting one of them. He'd always had something more interesting to do with his time, usually involving one of the few people whose company he could stand for a while. There were perhaps four or five of those altogether, counting Yuuto and Ruri.
"We live somewhere … that way." Shun waved his own hand but he wasn't certain of how clear he made it. He also wasn't even certain if he had the right direction or not. It was out there in the city somewhere. That was what mattered.
Kaito didn't seem to care if he did, just nodding slightly. He relaxed against the bench. He didn't seem to Shun like the sort of person who relaxed a great deal. They were alike in that regard.
The more time that he spent out here, the more his headache eased off. Not having any more of that punch, as well as some actual clean air and quiet, helped with that, as did company that didn't seem inclined to fill the air with useless noise. He enjoyed each breath he took more with each passing moment.
It was Kaito who let out the first heavy relieved sigh, though.
"Too many people," he murmured. "I didn't invite them. Haruto just told people there would be a party and they showed up."
Shun could not help the small wince that came from that. Ruri told him there would be a party and he would go to it with her and Yuuto. She did that whenever she heard about a party, though he'd more or less gathered that she knew whoever held it. At least most of the time.
He wasn't sure if he should say anything to that and started to open his mouth. Before he could utter a word, Kaito shook his head.
"If it makes Haruto happy, it's fine." He dropped his gaze for a brief moment before he looked back. "You'd do it for your sister, wouldn't you?"
Shun couldn't deny that either. Hadn't he thought much the same thing only a few minutes ago. He leaned back on the bench.
"That doesn't mean it isn't nice out here," he said instead, offering a brief smile. "Just because they're happy doesn't mean that we can't be too."
And their particular style of happiness just so happened to be out here where they could rest from the press of people, the noise, and the extremely questionable punch.
Kaito's smile was just as quick. Shun hadn't known him for an entire half hour yet, but he had a strong suspicion that seeing a genuine smile on Kaito's lips was as rare as seeing one on his own.
The longer they stared out there, the higher the moon rose in the sky, starting to reflect in the pool alongside of the firelight. Shun watched it for a few moments, letting his thoughts drift along. It was a weekend and he didn't especially have anything to do. He didn't have any classes until Tuesday and he'd taken care of everything he'd had to do before that.
So if he wanted to spend all of tonight out here, then there wasn't anything at all that would stop him from doing so.
"What do you do?" He asked Kaito, finding that what he really wanted to do at the moment wasn't just sit and stare in silence, but to actually exchange words with this person like and unlike himself.
"College. Online more than anything else," Kaito said, his own eyes resting on the moonlight and firelight as they danced over the pond's surface. "I have to keep an eye on Haruto."
Shun nodded. "I go to Heartland College." He'd worked his way in with a dueling scholarship. Heartland, and most of the cities around here, loved dueling. He didn't know if he'd make it his life career or not, but a few years in the pros would be enough to build a solid nest egg so he could decide what else he wanted to do with his life.
Kaito raised his head and gave him a thoughtful look. "You won that tournament a couple of years ago. The one that awarded the victor the scholarship."
"That's right." Shun failed to be surprised. These days if anyone recognized him for anything, it was that.
"My family sponsored that tournament and funds the scholarship," Kaito said. "I would have attended it, but I… had other things to do."
That little catch said it was something else beyond just a previous commitment. Shun couldn't peg what it was – he didn't know Kaito well enough – but it probably had involved Haruto. What he did know led to that.
"You didn't miss much," Shun told him. "I've had better opponents."
Kaito gave him a bit of a look, something that wasn't quite mischief playing across his features now. "I imagine you have."
Shun had seen challenge in the eyes of others many times in his life. Sometimes he lost but more often he won. He usually won fairly fast; his deck was built for power, even if it didn't look like it to the outside.
"Do you have your deck with you?" Shun didn't reach for his just yet. But he could feel the desire for a duel rising up, burning away the last of his annoyed mood.
He'd heard it said that the best way to get to know someone was to duel them, at least among those who did duel. He wasn't always certain if he believed that, but this might be one of those times.
Kaito reached inside of his jacket and pulled out a deck. "I never go anywhere without it. Did you want the full experience or just what we can do here?"
Shun reached for his deck as well. "What else can we do?"
"Come on."
He followed Kaito from the garden back inside, but through a different route this time. Where they ended up this time was a vast room that looked plain and ordinary, until Kaito did something or other, and it was replaced by a shimmering AR field filled with asteroids and shooting stars.
"We have other options if you want. It's the best AR field available," Kaito told him. "My father insists on it."
Shun nodded; what he'd dealt with AR fields before. The technology was incredibly advanced and could even actually hurt people. He'd never done more than cause bumps and bruises himself. Not that there hadn't been times when he'd been tempted…
"Let's see what this one can do," he offered. He didn't know what kind of a deck Kaito played, but the AR field would either have them affected equally or be in Kaito's favor. That definitely appealed to him.
Kaito nodded and strode over to one side of the field. Shun took the other one and the two stared at each other for a few seconds, excitement thrilling through both.
"Duel!"
Shun stepped back as the last of his life points drained away, breathing heavily, his heart beating a trifle more rapidly. He couldn't remember the last time he'd enjoyed himself this much. Finding someone that he could face on an equal basis didn't happen every day. Yuuto did a pretty good job of it, and he'd claimed he knew people who were good, but so far Shun hadn't yet had a chance to duel them.
But every move Kaito made thrummed with the kind of power that set Shun's own blood aflame. For the first time, he thought he was actually glad that he'd come there that night.
"You're good," Kaito said, crossing over to him. "I haven't come that close in a long time."
Shun managed to get him down to just about a hundred points before Kaito put together a combo that ended the duel in his favor. Shun pulled himself to his feet, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"You're good too." What else could he say? What else would have meant anything.
Neither of them could have been up to another duel. They'd poured too much of themselves into this one and now Shun couldn't have honestly said if he had enough energy to so much as walk out the door, let alone anything else.
There were benches here as well and both of them slid down on one. Kaito did something or other – Shun had his eyes closed so couldn't tell the details beyond that his arms moved a little – and then something cold pressed into one hand. When he opened his eyes, a cold soda rested there, unopened.
Shun took it; he needed something liquid after this. Add in whatever had been dumped into the punch and he especially needed it.
It took only three gulps for him to finish it all and he tossed the can into a nearby wastebasket before he slumped back again.
"So now what?" Shun asked. He wasn't going to expect that Kaito spend the entire night entertaining him, even if Kaito was by far the most interesting person that he'd met in the last six months. Though a tiny part of him that he halfway wanted to ignore and halfway wanted to pay attention to whispered that if Kaito had other things to do tonight, then he would find somewhere else to be. Such as home, or at least a long walk to clear his head.
Kaito's shrug was almost too slight for him to properly see. "I'm staying up until this party's done. Or at least until Haruto decides he's done."
As far as Shun could tell, that probably wouldn't be very much later. Haruto hadn't looked like the type who would keep very late hours. He stared briefly at his duel disk's display. He wasn't sure just when he'd met Kaito, but it was already past eleven.
Kaito seemed to realize that as well, as he dragged himself to his feet and turned toward the noise of the party. He glanced back for a heartbeat, a question in his eyes, and Shun answered it, getting to his feet as well.
The two of them headed out, a comfortable silence hanging between them, that wasn't broken until they were on the verge of walking back into the main party room.
"Do you feel capable of getting home on your own or would you like a room for the night? We have plenty here."
Shun tilted his head for a second, considering. He wanted to keep an eye on Ruri and Yuuto, but after everything that had happened, the idea of going home just yet didn't properly appeal to him.
Kaito didn't insist that he answer, but headed on into the room, moving effortlessly through it until he reached where Haruto still chatted with Reira, Reiji standing his eternal guard over them both.
"It's getting late," Kaito said as he drew into range. "You can have your friend visit tomorrow, Haruto."
Haruto's eyes lit up as soon as Kaito said that and he jerked around to request Reira's e-mail address in the next breath. Shun thought he'd never seen someone so very happy to know someone else.
He could feel the weight of attention on him as well and did not find himself surprised to see Reiji staring at him. His gaze moved from Shun to Kaito and back again, before he raised one eyebrow in a silent question.
Shun only shrugged. He had no words for what could just be an interesting friendship. He glanced around for himself and spied Ruri on a plush leather couch, a cup of something that he hoped wasn't punch in one hand, and three other girls there, chatting on subjects he decided he would be better off not knowing the details of.
A few steps brought him closer, and Ruri looked up almost at once.
"Hey, big brother!" She wriggled away from her friends and bounced to her feet and over to him. "Did you want to go home already?"
"Are you tired?" Shun avoided the question of where he wanted to go. Ruri didn't look tired. She looked as if she'd just started to have fun and wasn't going to stop for the mere passage of time.
"Not really. But if you want to go home without me, that's all right." She waved a hand to the girls on the couch. "We're going to go stay at Selena's later."
One of the girls, presumably Selena, but Shun wasn't going to take any clear wagers, raised her head to eye him coolly. Shun looked back at her, then at Ruri.
"I've got my phone, I can charge it there, and I'll call you in the morning," Ruri said, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to be fine."
"All right," Shun agreed. He still wasn't entirely sure about this Selena, but the other two looked a little reliable.
"Don't worry about Yuuto, either. He already left." She glanced back to the girls. "What were those other guys?"
"Yuugo and Yuuya. They're going to Yuugo's place," the apple-green haired girl said. "I can give you his number if you need it. But he doesn't always answer his phone."
Shun shook his head; he had Yuuto's number anyway. And he wasn't sure of what he might be interrupting or if they should interrupt it at all. Some points it would be better not to know.
Most of the party people seemed to have come to the vague conclusion that they could enjoy themselves more somewhere else, with many having already left and only a few still wandering here and there. At least a few compared to how many had been there when he and Kaito had first left the place.
"See you later, Haruto!" Reira declared as he and Reiji headed for the door. Shun saw no sign of Ray but he probably would have been more surprised if she had shown up. The oldest Akaba socialized even less than her brothers did.
Haruto waved back, his enthusiasm only somewhat lessened by a yawn, as Kaito started to gently nudge him out of the room. Ruri patted Shun on the shoulder at the same time.
"I want all the details later," she said, having no idea of how that brought Shun to a sharp mental standstill. "Have fun!"
With nothing more than that, the four girls headed out. Shun stared after them, still trying to process what his sister said, at least until Kaito stood in front of him again.
"Well? Did you want to stay here or not?"
Reality crashed back into Shun with the force of a train. He drew a quick steadying breath and made up his mind.
"I think I'd rather stay here." His reasons were simple and honest, even to himself. He didn't want to go home to the empty house that would be there without Ruri or Yuuto. He didn't know much about staying here, but it had to be better than absolute solitude.
Kaito nodded and started out again, Shun keeping up with him easily. His headache had mostly eased off but now weariness took its place, possibly fueled by the fact he knew Ruri and Yuuto both were busy elsewhere and he didn't have to keep further track of them.
Kaito led him up a flight of stairs, down a corridor, through a set of double doors, and up one more set of stairs that led to a hallway with several doors set on each side. Opening one, he gestured inside.
"You should find anything you need there. If you need something else, just ask and one of the house robots will get it for you."
"House robots?" He'd seen the trash collector robots that kept the city clean but this was a little new for him.
"If you don't see one tonight, I'll show you one tomorrow." Kaito eyed him for a moment and if there was anything else in his expression, Shun couldn't quite read it. He wasn't sure if that was because he was too tired to read much of anything or if he still didn't know Kaito all that well or the simpler concept that there wasn't anything there to read at all. "Do you want to get coffee with me tomorrow?"
That as well took a few moments to process. Somewhere in the back of his thoughts, Shun wondered if he'd somehow just been asked out on a date. Ruri would know. She was far more used to situations like this. It was too late to ask her, but perhaps in the morning. She would absolutely love having an entire day to come up with questions that he likely wouldn't have any proper answers for.
For now, though, he knew the answer he wanted to give: yes.
"Where to?" The more time he spent around Kaito the more it became obvious that he and his family had more money than Shun would ever have, even if he reigned at the top of the Pro Leagues for twenty years.
"There's a place I know. You might not have heard of it. But it has good coffee. We can get some breakfast there too." Kaito shrugged. "Up to you."
Shun nodded. "All right." There were far worse ways that he could spend part of a day. Besides, Ruri would certainly want to hear more than 'we had a duel and talked about nothing in particular'. If they had coffee together, ordinary as it was, then she would stop pestering him to meet people, and in her words 'find someone new to hang out with'.
She hadn't specifically said for him to find someone to date, but he knew what she wanted, and she knew how far she could push him before he started to dig his feels in.
He entered the room, door closing behind himself, and leaned against it for a few moments. He could hear brisk footsteps moving off and briefly wondered exactly where Kaito's room was in this place. Probably far away from everyone else at the moment.
A tilt of the head showed him the room around him and he couldn't entirely believe his eyes. It was clearly a guest room, decorated in a very neutral fashion, but still extraordinarily comfortable and welcoming. He didn't feel up to checking to see if there were loaner clothes. He didn't need them anyway.
There was, thankfully, a bathroom attached, and he headed there first.
The longer he stayed there, the more he considered Kaito and what little he knew of him. Just the fact he would put himself through this party, something he clearly didn't enjoy, for his little brother's sake told him quite a bit. Add in how good of a duelist he was and how genuinely intriguing he was, and all in all Shun came to one decision, even as he finished in the bathroom and headed for bed.
He wanted to get to know Kaito better. He wanted Kaito to know him better. Whatever came after that would come.
And having coffee together would be a start.
The End
Notes: Hey, I was nice to Shun! … don't expect it to last. There is a 'monster' prompt for Arc-V Rare Pairs Week, after all.