Title: Doughnut Dust
Romance: Juudai x Johan
Notes: This takes place sometime roughly before episode 111, in early third season, so watch out for spoilers.
Summary: Is it the doughnuts that make Juudai's lips so sweet? Johan doesn't really care.
Yuki Juudai had two answers to solving whatever problems cropped up in his life. The first was to duel it away. The second was to eat. Sometimes he even got to combine the two, as had happened during the end of the year duel with Kaiser Ryou back in his first year. But since situations like that didn't coincide very often, he usually had to settle for one or the other. Or so it had been until Johan Anderson had come to Duel Academia.
These days, when the two of them had the time, it wasn't unusual to see them both with food nearby, happily chatting over their decks, discussing whatever the latest duel had been and how they would have handled things, and once in a while directing a comment or a laugh towards what appeared to most people to be nothing but clear air. Though it must be noted that if Manjoume Jun happened to be passing by, he would on occasion swat at the air himself, as if getting rid of something small and annoying. Everyone knew not to question him about this, however, and if they tried to ask either Juudai or Johan what was going on, any answer they got simply made no rational sense. People had long since stopped asking Juudai questions, though.
"So, what did you get today?" Juudai bounced as he eyed the basket in his friend's hand. Normally they hung around the Academy, but today was going to be different. The sky had finally cleared off after three days of near constant rain, and everyone wanted to be outside. There was a difference between being indoors because he wanted to be and being indoors because he had no choice. Now that there was a choice, he wanted outside.
Johan chuckled a little. "You'll see when we get there." Juudai wasn't surprised. Johan's taste for surprise had been a part of him since before they'd met. He was getting used to it, and he really liked it, when he thought about it. In fact, he liked it even when he didn't think about it. "Now, where are we going?"
That was how they tended to arrange little things like this. Since Juudai knew every inch of the Academy and the island better than he could have known his own bedroom at home, he figured out places they could go where they could usually talk to their Duel Spirits without anyone bothering them, and where if they wanted to try a pick up duel or something, they could be as maniac as they wanted and wouldn't get in anyone's way.
"There's this great spot over that way," Juudai waved his hands in a way that could have meant three out of four of the cardinal points of the compass, and quite probably up and down at the same time. "We'll have an awesome view of the island and everything!"
Johan laughed again. "Why don't you just show me?" If one were going to follow Juudai anywhere, it was best to just let him lead and not have him try to show the way. "Where are Kenzan and Shou, anyway?" It was a little rare to not see them hanging around.
"I think they're doing some homework or something," Juudai shrugged. He knew that they'd both told him what they were doing, but he couldn't remember right now. There were a few other things on his mind, and he trusted they wouldn't get into too much trouble that they couldn't get out of.
The two duelists headed into the forest, with Juudai playing the role of tour guide. "And that was the way that I went when we were looking for Professor Daitokuji that time, and over there, if you go down far enough, you can find that well that Manjoume found Ojama Black and Ojama Green in."
"Sounds like things have been interesting around here before," Johan commented. He'd heard a few things about the events at Duel Academia before he'd come here, but there was nothing quite like being there.
"Yeah, they have." Juudai nodded in agreement. It had been a wild couple of years. He really hoped this one was a little different. Saioh's words about the future of Duel Academia, and the vision or dream or whatever it had been that he'd had the day the foreign students had arrived, still haunted him once in a while. He didn't want to think about that kind of thing today, though. Today was just too good of a day to waste on thoughts like that.
The particular path he wanted was a little hard to find, unless you knew just what you were looking for. Luckily, Juudai knew exactly what to look for, and bounced his way onto it easily. "We're almost there," he glanced back at the other teen and motioned ahead of himself. This one was a little easier to understand, mainly because the path led out of the thick tangle of trees and out of sight around some rocky outcroppings. There weren't too many other places that he could be referring to with that gesture.
Johan followed him, a warm smile lighting his features as Ruby Carbuncle shimmered into existence beside him. "Hey! Nice day, isn't it?" He could never remember being quite as happy as he had been since he had met the Jewel Beasts. They meant virtually everything to him. He only truly felt this complete and happy around one other person.
"Come on!" Juudai called out to him, and his smile broadened briefly. He had no idea why or how he and Juudai had clicked as deeply as they had, but just like with the Jewel Beasts, he wasn't going to complain about it. Some things were just obviously meant to be.
"Coming!" He hurried along, and Juudai grinned as he saw the spirit hovering near Johan. Hane Kuriboh appeared moments later, and the two of them began to coo and whisper at one another. Johan was certain within minutes they'd be tussling around the way they did so often. It wasn't very often their spirits had the chance to just relax.
"Did anything happen around here?" he asked as they made their way through the stone-strewn stretch of land. He was almost willing to believe any story that Juudai told about this island. For a place owned by someone as practical as Kaiba Seto, all manner of impractical things happened quite a lot.
"I don't think so..." Juudai frowned thoughtfully. "I think people come up here to duel sometimes, though, at night. I saw Miyake Aimi and Oshiro Juro coming this way a few days ago."
Johan didn't know everyone at Duel Academia, but he did know that Miyake Aimi was a very pretty second year Obelisk Blue and Oshiro Juro was a third year Ra student. He wasn't going to say anything, but he kind of doubted dueling was what they'd had on their minds.
Ruby Carbuncle trilled something at him, and he looked at Juudai. "Are we almost there yet?" His spirit partner had no objections to walking, or floating, or whatever, but he himself was getting hungry, and the duel spirit could tell. At least it wasn't Topaz Tiger. That one probably would've knocked him down and insisted that he eat before going another step.
"Almost! It's right around the bend!" Juudai hurried a little ahead, and Johan followed him. True to Juudai's word, the path widened out, leading to a cliff that did indeed give a beautiful view of the island. The Academy itself could be seen from there as well, with several people moving in and around it. From this distance, they all looked quite small and he could only hear the vaguest murmurs brought to him by the wind. A flicker from one direction proved to be a duel going on between a couple of students, Osiris Reds by their jackets, and a faint cry of joy from the ocean showed someone doing some windsurfing.
"Isn't it great?" Juudai stared out over it all and sighed only for a moment. "I'll hate to leave this place when the year's over with."
Johan patted him on the shoulder. "Don't think about it. That's months and months away. We've got all kinds of time."
"Yeah, you're right!" Juudai dropped even the hint of a sad mood at the reminder and flopped himself down on the grass. "Now, let's see what you've got in that basket!"
Johan had grown so used to the basket being on his arm as they'd walked that he'd almost forgotten it was there in the first place. He folded himself down on the ground and set the basket between them before lifting up the lid. Juudai virtually squealed with delight when he saw what it was.
"Doughnuts! You've got doughnuts!" Quick as a flash, he had a powdered doughnut out of the basket and had made it vanish.
"Hey, leave some of them for me!" Johan reached in and pulled out a glazed doughnut for himself. He didn't eat it quite as quickly as Juudai did, since he preferred to savor the taste of the glaze, but he also didn't waste that much time. Food of any kind was something that should be appreciated, not just mindlessly wolfed down.
Of course that didn't mean he wasn't going to eat fast if he needed to do so in order just to eat. Which he was quite convinced he would have to do in order to have some of these doughnuts. One would think Juudai was still suffering from the effects of his dis-duel from the way he was chowing down! Johan was very glad he'd packed more than a few doughnuts, and some other things, in there.
"These are so good!" Juudai gushed, once he had enough out of his mouth so he could speak more or less clearly. "I wish I'd had some of them before. I bet I would've been out of there twice as fast!"
Johan nodded, his gaze turning towards the ocean. He could see the sunlight glinting briefly off of his dis-belt if he looked the right way, and he didn't like looking there. There was something so unutterably wrong about it, but he couldn't place just what it was that bothered him so much.
"What are you thinking about?" Juudai asked, working his way over to sit beside Johan. His own dis-belt gleamed as he settled his arms on his knees, chewing one of the jelly-filled doughnuts. There was a small smear of jelly on the side of his lips, and Johan wondered for a moment if he should get rid of it. His stomach squirmed in an immensely pleasurable way at the thought. He had no idea of how Juudai would react if he did, though. Best not to chance it, at least not right now.
"These things," he said instead, tapping at his dis-belt. "I just have a bad feeling about them. I'm not sure why. I just do."
Juudai licked at his lips, disposing of the jelly smear. Johan tried not to be upset about that. It was just a smear, after all. The sight of Juudai's tongue made his stomach dance about all over again as well. He really hoped he could keep the conversation where it belonged, or he was going to make a fool of himself. "Yeah, I know what you mean." He shrugged casually. "But the worst that's happened is getting to eat a pile of food. If that's all they can do, then bring on more duels like that!"
Johan laughed; that was probably the best way to look at things. What else could these things do, other than that?
He glanced into the basket and saw there was only one doughnut left, a powdered sugar one. "You want that doughnut?" he asked Juudai. He didn't like that type himself. He preferred either cream-filled ones or glazed and that was it. They were probably being very unhealthy by eating dessert first, but they were third years at this school. They could be unhealthy if they wanted to be.
"Sure!" Juudai agreed eagerly. Johan reached in and pulled it out, offering it to him. He knew Juudai could have gotten it himself, but he didn't care. If he wanted to offer his friend a doughnut, then he would offer his friend a doughnut. The fascinating tingle he got as their fingertips brushed, so similar to how it had been when they had first shaken hands all those weeks ago, was only an extra benefit.
Johan watched quietly as Juudai ate, talking around his mouthfuls as he did. He mentioned someone named Misawa, and how he hadn't been seen since before the end of their second year, and someone else named Kaiser Ryou, whom Johan had heard about, and would greatly prefer not to meet if he could avoid it. Other names fell from Juudai's lips as the doughnut vanished, and Johan simply listened, enjoying the sound of Juudai's voice.
"You've got doughnut dust all over your face," he finally said as Juudai stopped and began to fish around in the basket for something to drink. Johan could've told him right where the bottles of lemonade were, but he was a touch preoccupied by staring at Juudai's dust-covered face and lips. Especially the lips. He was convinced Ruby Carbuncle was laughing at him, but that was okay.
"I do?" Juudai started to reach a hand up to brush at it, but Johan stopped him. He had also stopped really thinking somewhere along the line. The two of them remained like that for a few moments, neither able or willing to look away from the other. Finally Johan leaned in more closely, bracing himself with one hand on the ground.
"I'll get it off," he said, reaching with his other hand to start brushing off the dust. He meant it innocently, or as innocently as he could with all the thoughts going through his mind that were, and the sight of Juudai's large eyes so close, and his lips so invitingly close. He meant to do no more than brush it off and return to dreams and fantasies.
Unfortunately, sometimes what one means to do and what one does are two entirely different things. As Johan leaned in, the arm he used to support himself twitched and moved in the wrong way, and he found himself sliding downwards towards Juudai. Neither of them were able to move fast enough to stop what was happening, even if they'd known what was going to happen. If they had, it was debatable on if they would have wanted to stop it.
As it was, a heartbeat later Juudai was flat on his back in the grass, with Johan's lips a mere breath of a whisper above his own. Again their eyes caught one another, and without a bit of hesitation now, Johan seized the moment. He crossed that minute gap between them and placed his lips tenderly on Juudai's.
Juudai himself had no idea of how to react. In all of his seventeen years, he had never been kissed once, not like this. He'd heard people talking about it, and he knew Manjoume would die on the spot if Asuka had ever granted his wish and kissed him (or looked in his general direction as more than a friend), but it had just never happened before. Somewhere in the extreme back of his mind, he supposed he should have been angry that it was another guy he was getting this from, but he wasn't. This was Johan, and everything about this moment screamed that it was right, it was meant to happen like this and could with no one else. This wasn't a problem. He didn't have to duel it away or eat it away. He simply did what came naturally at that point.
He closed his eyes and kissed back.
Ruby Carbuncle and Hane Kuriboh looked at each other, then at their respective masters, then back at each other again. This was something that neither of them had ever had to deal with before. Finally they simply curled up and let the humans do what they wanted. It wasn't dangerous, and in fact it looked as if they were enjoying themselves, which was all either spirit ever wanted for them.
When Johan and Juudai finally parted, both of them were a little hesitant and unsure on just what to do next. Finally Johan fidgeted a little, not looking at the other teenager. "So, what do you think..."
"I...um..." Juudai was seldom at a loss for words. This particular situation had done it, though.
Johan blushed a deep red and made a plunge for something that would be a little easier to talk about. "So, what do you think about...a quick duel? Just for fun..."
"All right!" Juudai nodded quickly; that was his language! Of course what had just happened was a very interesting detour into another tongue altogether, and one he wasn't sure if he'd mind repeating should the occasion call for it...
Both of them scrambled to their feet and had their duel disks and decks ready in seconds. Johan started to draw, then looked over at Juudai, a hint of mischief in his eyes. "What do you think of an ante?"
"What?" Juudai was surprised; he'd never liked that kind of a rule, and he knew that Johan didn't either. Why was he asking?
"Not a card. Not like that." Johan shuddered at the very thought. He had an entirely different kind of ante in mind, and his shudder turned into a grin as he looked Juudai in the eyes across the distance. "Whichever one of us loses has to kiss the other one."
Juudai knew he was blushing again, and didn't care. He just nodded, a flash of a grin striking across his face, and for the first time in his life, considered just for a moment playing to lose.
