Notes

Finally getting back to writing Braceletship! It's been a long time since my last fic, and my goal is still 12 oneshots for the year, so... Here we are! Finally! I started writing this back in March, but shit hit the fan in March, so.. better late then never, right? Lmao. Anyways, the fics I had planned for April and May are almost finished, so hopefully I can get those out within the next week. Working two jobs is hard, pff.

Anyways, hope y'all enjoy! Based on the prompt: "Everyone keeps telling me you're the bad guy."

"I don't know, Yuzu," Gongenzaka frowned as he spoke, shaking his head slightly in disapproval. "From everything I've heard, he sounds a bit dangerous."

"He's not," she insisted, getting more and more irritated by the minute. "He's not a bad person, he's just troubled."

Troubled was the understatement of the century. If what he told her yesterday was true - and she had no reason to believe otherwise - than Yuto came from a war zone; where he, Shun, and their friends and family had all been brutally attacked without warning. Anyone would find it difficult to recover from that, she thought. And those who wanted to help…

Well, it made sense that they had come here, looking for clues. At least to Yuzu. Gongenzaka didn't seem to see it her way, which, sure, she expected, but it hurt her all the same. He was her friend, someone she'd known since childhood, and to hear him worry about her judgement like this…

She grimaced, narrowing her eyes at her feet. "He's a good person," Yuzu insisted. "I swear it."

For someone Yuzu had no way of contacting, they did seem to meet up fairly often.

Tonight was no different. She had finished up practice with Sora a while ago, but hadn't wanted to go home yet - the tournament was on its way soon, after all, and Yuzu needed all the extra practice she could get. She shouldn't have been surprised when Yuto walked into the warehouse, really, but found herself jumping when he greeted her, anyways.

"It's just me," he said, voice sounding much more human with his mask hanging limply by his side. "Sorry."

Taking a deep breath, she turned to face him. "It's okay," she told him, attempting to smile but failing miserably. "I'm just stressed. Not really your fault."

And that was true: the stress of perfecting a new type of summoning right before a massive tournament, not to mention the ridiculous weirdness that had been happening in her life partially due to the boy in front of her… stress was an understatement. What had once been a normal life for Yuzu had been forcibly ripped out from under her, and she was left trying to make sense of it while carrying on as usual.

On top of all that, her mind went back to the conversation she had with Gongenzaka just days prior about him: about her friend's distrust of him. It had frustrated her then, and it still frustrated her now. Yuzu wasn't used to being doubted by those close to her, and she knew her judgement wasn't off when it came to Yuto.

She shook her head a little, trying to clear her mind. There was no use thinking about that right now - Gongenzaka wasn't there, after all.

Her new companion didn't say anything to that, just sat down on one of the piles of scrap wood silently. Despite how uncomfortable it looked, Yuto seemed to feel right at home. She thought back to his words last time - the war zone, looking for his lost friend - and wondered if this place felt like a luxury compared to where he came from.

"What's going on?" Yuzu finally asked after a few minutes, situating herself near him.

"You can keep practicing," he said instead. "I don't mind."

She sighed. Part of her had hoped after they'd grown to understand each other better last time around, Yuto would be more open with her. It seemed that wasn't the case; and just like before, she'd have to pry all the information she wanted out herself.

"I need a break," she replied, shrugging. "What's going on?"

Another pause in conversation, and Yuzu was about ready to demand an answer from him. Since she'd met him, she'd known he wasn't bad - he'd only been trying to protect her, this whole time - but he was infuriating, sometimes. Especially right now, when the last time they'd met it seemed they had finally gotten somewhere.

"Your presence is," Yuto finally responded, looking strained as he spoke. Yuzu wondered briefly if he missed his mask, now sitting on the floor next to where he sat. "It's calming, for me."

Huh. That wasn't what she'd been expecting at all. Asking if things had been difficult, or stressful, seemed like moot point - they always seemed to be, after all - so she skipped over it entirely. "I'm glad," she said instead, giving him a small smile.

They were silent again for another moment, Yuzu settling herself down next to him trying to get comfortable. Yuto didn't say anything about how close she was or her fidgeting; just closed his eyes and breathed in deeply.

"What were you working on?" He asked once he opened his eyes again, looking at her. For someone who had previously seemed so unwilling to talk, she thought, he certainly wanted to hold a conversation with her now.

Not that it was a bad thing. "Fusion Summoning," she told him honestly. "Previously, I'd only really used Tribute Summoning in my deck, so Extra Deck mechanics are a bit lost on me," she continued, frowning. It wasn't something Yuzu was used to, feeling stupid. She had started to get it, at this point - won a few duels using the new technique and everything - but sometimes she just forgot basic things, making her frustrated with herself.

Hence why she'd decided to stay after Sora had already left, going over her deck again and working out combos that could use the new cards he'd given her and she'd found in shops to supplement her deck.

"It can be a bit confusing," he agreed, inclining his head towards her duel disk. "If you don't mind, can I take a look?"

Something Yuzu had noticed about Yuto is, unlike his lookalike, he was very understanding. If she were to be having this conversation with Yuya, she had a feeling he would mean well but wouldn't be sure what to say, or do, to cheer her up.

She handed her deck to him without complaint, unlocking it in a smooth motion from her wrist. Her Melodious deck had changed a lot over the past few weeks; adding in Polymerization and other cards to supplement it, like Bloom Diva in her Extra Deck. It was an odd feeling, if she were being honest with herself. She was always tweaking her deck, trying to make it the best it could be, but this was a whole new level of it.

"This doesn't look bad at all," Yuto told her, looking at a few cards, "but you're preparing to go up against another Fusion user, right? Do you have any cards to counter it?"

This gave Yuzu pause. For the last few weeks, she had specifically been trying to improve her own abilities, but hadn't really considered the idea of adding cards to counter others.

"No, I hadn't really thought about it," Yuzu admitted, taking her cards back and locking them back into her duel disk. "I should ask Sora about that, thank you."

Her companion nodded, and they fell back into an almost comfortable silence again. There was a lot Yuzu wanted to say - mainly thank him for being willing to help her, despite her learning what he considered the enemy's summoning methods - but found she couldn't work up the nerve to open her mouth.

She realized, way after he had left to go find Shun and she had been sitting at the warehouse alone, that she hadn't actually minded the silence after all.

Since their last talk, Yuzu had been determined to get Gongenzaka to understand that Yuto meant no harm. She wasn't even sure why it was bothering her so much, but something about her friend's discomfort with her new friend bothered her. A lot.

It had bothered her when Masumi had accused him of being the one to have taken out her teacher, too, but this was worse. This was someone she had grown up with, someone that she would trust with her back no matter what. Having that kind of person be unsure of her decisions was… grating.

Before she could even say anything, though, Gongenzaka started talking. "I'm sorry, Yuzu," he said, holding her gaze, "but after everything that's happened, I still don't trust him. There's a lot stacked against him."

He was, of course, referring to his and Shun's obvious hatred against LDS; coupled with Shun's organized take down of LDS staff members. Yuzu sighed, shaking her head, before turning on her heel and heading home. There was no point in arguing with him once he'd made up his mind - he was a reflection of his Steadfast Dueling, after all - but she bit her lip in irritation all the same.

The next time she and Yuto met, it was yet again in the warehouse. This time, however, Yuzu wasn't practicing, or anything close to it. Sora had left ages ago, but she hadn't bothered going home, too distraught to even think about it.

All day, she had been making simple mistakes - things that she thought she had moved past, at this point. Sora had essentially told her to pull herself together by tomorrow, and Yuzu had spent the last hour or so trying to do just that, to no avail.

"What's going on?" Yuto asked, parroted her question from the last time they spoke as he sat down next to her.

Internally, Yuzu debated. She could be honest with him; giving him the treatment she so wished he gave her when it came to his thoughts and feelings. Lying was another option, as was deflecting the question and moving onto a more comfortable topic, or even just sitting in comfortable silence again. The more she thought about it, however, the more she knew that she really had no choice in the matter.

"It frustrates me," Yuzu confessed with a sigh, "how much my friends think you're the bad guy." Yuto looked taken aback, but she continued, closing her eyes. "It's just… from everything you've told me, and everything I know about you, you just seem…"

"I'm not a good person, Yuzu." His voice was rough, and more tired than she expected. "Your friends aren't wrong. I've done a lot of bad things."

"I don't believe that," she told him firmly. "I don't believe that for one second."

They didn't say anything for a moment, Yuto looking contemplative while Yuzu sat with her eyes pressed tightly together. Hearing even him talk badly about himself hurt her, in a way she wasn't sure how to feel. Truth be told, she didn't really know him that well - but she certainly felt like she did. They'd met so many times now, and every meeting had more meaning then the last, it seemed.

When she had come to want to defend him so thoroughly, to thinking about him so often, Yuzu wasn't sure. All she knew now was her own feelings, her own wants; and, she supposed, that was all that mattered.

"Why do you have so much faith in me?" Yuto asked, sounding wearier by the second. "I don't understand. We hardly know each other."

"Why does my presence help you relax?" She fired back, remembering how surprised she had been by his admission last time. "Why does it matter, anyways? You've done nothing but try and help me since you met me. I'm allowed to come to my own conclusions about other people."

A beat, and then: "Is that what's been bothering you?"

Yuzu frowned, looking at her shoes. "Yes. No. I don't know."

Truthfully, it was only part of it. Most of it really was that for whatever reason, she felt protective over the boy who wore the same face as her best friend. She had ever since she first met him. Yuzu couldn't deny, though, that she was also frustrated with Gongenzaka's lack of trust in her. They'd known each other for such a long time, now; to have him question her competency aggravated her. She was already getting sick of feeling stupid when it came to Fusion Summoning, after all.

Silence overtook their conversation once again, barring the sounds of their breathing. The warehouse was a quiet place in general, far back from the whole of Maiami City, but without anyone speaking it almost felt deafening.

"I don't think I'm a good person," Yuto finally said after some time, "but you're capable of deciding that for yourself, Yuzu. You're your own person."

Blinking, she looked back up to meet his eyes. Lately, it seemed the only person who believed in her own agency was Yuto, the boy sitting next to her. His dark eyes were kind, despite his earlier disagreement that he wasn't a good person.

"I'll have enough faith in you for the both of us, then," Yuzu said, smiling for the first time all night. "How about that?"

He breathed out harshly, and Yuzu quickly realized he was holding back a small laugh as he shook his head at her. Even though he and Yuya were identical, she was starting to realize they had their differences, too - she'd never seen an expression like that on Yuya, for example, and she found she quite liked it on him.

"As I said, you're perfectly capable," he said, gracing her with a small, rare smile. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Yeah, she thought to herself, trying to ignore the heat that colored her cheeks. She definitely liked that expression on him.