Wow! Not only my first Yu-Gi-Oh GX fic, but also my first Christmas fic! Woot! Well… this is an AU where Zane never partakes in that underground duel. I dunno the ACTUAL timeline, but this is how it is here. Zane refuses and refuses but starts to give, then this fic happens, and he refuses some more. I'll tell you here and now to put your minds at ease; he does get cornered in an alley one evening and he does actually deck the guy :) Well, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I always forget these things. Huh. Well, you can see right there that this is a disclaimer, sound out the syllables now, dis-claim-er. That means that I am NOT claiming to own Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Quite the opposite, in fact. Since this is here, I won't be repeating it later.
It was coming close to Christmas, and cars were pulling up the drive of the Rhodes family's generous estate. Alexis and Atticus were there, smiling and waving as everyone arrived. Syrus and his parents were the first to get parked, running over and greeting the pair.
"Hey Atticus, Alexis!" He glanced around at the other cars. "Did you invite everyone?"
"Yep!" Atticus chirped happily. "Everyone worth asking over, anyway. And Chazz."
Syrus rolled his eyes as his parents came over. "Hey there, you two!" His mother, a woman with straight, chin-length hair the same colour as her eldest son's, greeted the pair.
Her husband, a thin man with bright turquoise hair pulled back in a low ponytail to his shoulder-blades and glasses had a much more enthusiastic approach in mind. "ATTICUS! ALEXIS!" He yelled dramatically, sounding as if they were his long-lost children, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" He threw himself at the siblings, wrapping them both in a rather tight hug.
"H-hello, Mr. Truesdale, uh, Merry Christmas to you too." Alexis greeted awkwardly. Her own father was just as bad, but, well, he was her own father.
"Please, call me Chris! Atticus calls me Chris. And he calls Marie Marie, so call her Marie too, okay?"
"O-okay…"
The other guests to the Rhodes' Christmas get-together arrived; Jaden, who walked in and was noticeably without family; Hassleberry, in a jeep with his rather militant-looking mother; Bastion, in a medium-sized 'average' car with both of his parents; and Chazz, who was also alone and minus a vehicle, looking rather like he wasn't sure why he'd come.
Atticus and Alexis herded everyone into the main living room, which was large and cosy with a roaring fire to welcome them in from the snow. Alexander and Annette Rhodes were also there, ready to greet their guests. Mr. Rhodes was a well-built man with thick wavy brown hair that was cut short and combed back, and an equally thick beard and moustache, complete with sideburns. His wife had honey-blonde hair that she kept in a short plait, a few shorter locks falling about her temples.
"CHRIS!"
"ALEX!"
Syrus attempted to hide behind Jaden as the two grown men tackled each other in heartfelt embraces, dramatic tears streaming down their faces. After several other people were assaulted in a similar way, Anette and Marie stepped in and things calmed down a little as the parents got chatting on the various plush seats, whilst the younger ones seated themselves on the floor in front of the fire.
"So," Jaden started, "what's the betting it'll actually snow for Christmas this year?"
Chazz looked like he was going to say something pessimistic, but Bastion got there first. "Well, I'll assume you mean snow as in 'typical Christmas landscape', and say that judging by the sleet and slight rain these past two days, and the notable decrease in snowfall and also remaining on the ground, even if it does snow-"
"What he's trying to say is 'It won't'." Chazz cut in, annoyed at having that walking scientific calculator butt in before him.
Atticus, who had been staring at the fire, an uncharacteristically pensive look on his face, jumped in before anyone else could respond with a totally unrelated question. "Where's Zane?"
The group went quiet. They had all noticed that Zane wasn't there, and they were also painfully aware of the catastrophic losing streak he'd been stuck in since his duel with Aster Phoenix. However, he'd been living in his own place since starting at the Pro Leagues and hadn't contacted anyone in over a month, so how they were supposed to know was beyond them. Perhaps he just needed to ask, to make it known that he was worried.
It seemed Atticus was going to get his wish granted this Christmas.
"Well… he moved back in with us yesterday." Syrus began hesitantly, acutely aware of the fact that all eyes had now shifted onto him. "Only for a bit, he said… I guess he just wanted to get away from duelling for a bit, come back home where Mom and Dad could, y'know, look after him, sorta…"
Atticus nodded to show that he understood. Zane needed somewhere safe and familiar to hide from the sneering faces and judging eyes, somewhere to rest and recuperate safely for a while, without all the pressure, the weight of his own repeated failure pressing down on him.
"Well, when we said we were coming here for this thing this morning, he said he wanted to be alone for a bit and was gonna go for a walk…" He trailed off uncertainly.
Atticus just nodded again, then cracked a grin. "Lexi, you can keep this party going without me for a bit, right?" He half-asked, half-joked. Alexis nodded, knowing that whatever her brother was going to do, he needed to do it by himself, and that it probably had to do with Zane.
"Good." He stood up and headed for the door. "I'm gonna go out for a bit, okay? See ya!" He was gone before anyone could reply.
He grabbed his forest-green coat, black gloves and grey scarf, and headed out of the front door. Once he was heading down the street he let his feet take him, somehow knowing that they were taking him to the right place. He considered pulling out his video phone, but right now Zane wouldn't answer a call, and he may not respond to or even read a text message. So he walked.
As he walked, a memory came back to him, of another time when he was walking aimlessly down a street with no real destination in mind.
The seven-year-old Atticus trotted happily down the sidewalk, content to be out by himself. It was Sunday; his teensy five-year-old sister was at a friend's birthday party for teensy five-year-olds with their mother and his father was having some 'me-time' with a beer and the football.
He took in the surroundings as he walked, though they weren't unfamiliar to him, he never ceased to be amazed by the beauty that could be provided by some houses and a few trees. He looked back at where he was going and realised he coming up to the park. He decided he'd while away the time there and sped up.
As he got closer, however, Atticus noticed that there was someone else there too. A little boy about his age with dark blue-ish hair was sat on a swing, and even though he could only see the boy's back Atticus could tell that this other boy was feeling rather morose at the moment.
He ran over and sat on the swing next to the other boy, who looked up at him with ice-blue eyes and seeming disinterest.
Atticus knew better.
"Hi!" He chirruped, smiling.
"Hey." The other boy responded after a pause.
The young Rhodes waited expectantly, and the two sat there just looking at each other for a minute or so. He eventually twigged that this odd boy wasn't going to say anything, so did so himself.
"My name's Atticus. What's yours?"
"Zane." The boy looked away again, sitting as he had been before.
Atticus' face screwed up in a frown. He was tempted to leave this unresponsive child and play by himself like he'd intended but… he didn't really want to.
His face lit up with inspiration. "Wanna play with me?"
Zane looked back at him, face still blank. "Why?"
Atticus screwed up his face again. "Huh?"
"Why do you want to play with me?" He clarified.
"Because you're all alone, and it's fun to play with someone. Besides, I wanna be friends with you. I think I'll like you."
Zane had frowned faintly then, his lips tightening for a moment, before his face smoothed out to his previous emotionless expression. "Okay."
Atticus smiled at the memory. Zane had been introduced to their class in school the next day, and had asked the teacher if he could sit next to the brunette. It was Atticus himself who explained they'd met in the park the previous day.
Coming out of those memories, he wondered if he had at all as he was struck by a sudden sense of déja-vu. He smiled at the sight and strode over, taking note of that once again morose air being given off.
He sat on the swing next to Zane, smiling at the man that was a teen and had once been a boy wearing the thick black trench coat given to him the previous year. "Hi."
Zane looked up, and after a moment spoke. "Hey."
"Wanna play with me?"
Zane frowned for a moment at the childish request, before a soft smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Okay."
Well? What do you think? Like it? Hate it? Throw burning bricks at it? If it's the latter, I'd like to know how you managed to set a brick on fire. That's all from me for now!