A/N: Written for
GX Bingo, the non-flash version, #000 - romance
Diversity Writing Challenge, b99 - fic that starts and ends with the same letter
Tapering Crushes
Most parents would find a teenager pursuing a boy of her own age to be, at the very least, mildly panic inducing in the "you're still my baby girl" way. Funnily enough, her parents seemed rather relieved to hear she had turned her interests to a boy of her own age.
That was probably because her first idol had been Mutou Yugi himself, and why not? But even at that young and impressionable age, she knew that was never going to happen, so when she saw her first duel tournament in person and Marufuji Ryou was the winner, she set her sights on him instead. Still, he was in his final year of Duel Academy by that time and she wasn't even old enough to begin there.
Not that it stopped her. She feigned her age in the application and though KaibaCorp caught her out, it seemed Kaiba Seto had no problem in having underaged students at his school if they could pass his exams. So she passed them, and with flying colours too.
Then she tucked her hair into a cap and marched into Orisis, because she knew full well a girl only got respect when they were at the top. And it would take her a while to get to Obelisk. A while she didn't have, when a combination of her own impatience, Yuuki Juudai's curiousness and Marufuji Ryou's intuition caught her out and had her sent back to the school she should have been attending - because Kaiba Seto may not care about her age so much, but Principal Samejima and her parents did.
And that, very neatly, put Marufuji Ryou out of her league. But when she got the chance, she was still ready to show him how much she'd grown. Pity he never gave her the chance - but he did give her his medal, earning her second place in the Genex Tournament - and her indispuitable early ticket into Duel Academia - and her new person of interest: Yuuki Juudai.
And he wasn't as impossible as the others. For one, he'd actually talk to her, joke around with her, pay attention to her... Though Asuka didn't seem to like that very much. She'd figured out why quickly enough. Juudai was a person who was rather ignorant of the female gender at first glance, but that also meant he respected them as duellists and as equals. And beyond that, there was something that attracted...well, everyone he met. Even someone as by the books as Asuka would loosen up with Juudai.
But Juudai treated pretty much everyone the same. It threw a wrench in between Sho and Kenzan, and between her and Asuka as well, and he didn't even notice it. That part of his heart they all sought belonged to his spirits, all in all. And besides, they were all outrageous crushes, like the crushes one got on celebrities and idols - and, really, they were all duelling icons.
And then there was Martin Konou, who wasn't famous and hadn't saved the world (but had gotten possessed by an evil/misguided spirit). Martin who was lonely and who needed to be reminded to eat properly and was the perfect person to practice her cooking on (because Juudai would wolf down anything in front of him and couldn't dependably comment on the taste) and who also respected her as a strong individual (if only because she strong-armed him into things, but really, he wouldn't even eat three times a day if she didn't). But he was the first to leave, with his father back to France. Before everybody else graduated and left her behind again.
He promised to write though. And she was writing to him every fortnight to make sure he kept up with it too. And learning some French to make it easier - or harder - for him.
And when she was home for the summer break, her parents were interested in hearing what she had to say about him - and relieved to hear Juudai had graduated too...though that might have been more of an out of sight, out of mind situation with them.