Author's Notes: Been awhile since I posted anything. Anyway, this is sort of a multi-pairing fic, focusing on Honda and Shizuka. I'd appreciate feedback, but not flames. I'm perfectly aware that many don't like that pairing, but...well. I do. So yes. Enjoy :D
...I'm sure you'll figure this out, but this chapter is done from Honda's POV. Duh XDD;
"No way. I PROMISE you, Honda. In a one-on-one match, Batman would TOTALLY own Spiderman," Jounouchi said matter of factly.
Honda rolled his eyes. "Please. That's like putting a Chihuahua against a pit bull," he said blandly. "Need I remind you who has the superpowers?"
"Oh whoopity-freakin-doo. Peter Parker can shoot webs out of his hand and jump around like he belongs in the circus. Big deal," Jounouchi taunted. "BATMAN doesn't need special powers, and he can do everything Spidey can and more. Bruce Wayne would kick his butt and you know it."
Mai, who was comfortably seated on the couch next to the fighting boys, sighed in sheer exasperation. "Would both of you shut up before I develop my own superpowers and kill you?"
Right across from Mai in a large armchair sat Anzu, with Yuugi perched on the armrest. "Good luck, Mai," the brunette girl shrugged. "I've been trying that for years."
"Any luck?"
"I can bend spoons with my mind, but that's about it. Nothing lethal."
"Ah. Darn."
Yuugi smiled sheepishly and, as usual attempted to keep the peace. "Let's not fight, guys. Anzu asked us over to her house so we could have some fun, not kill each other."
The blonde woman smirked down at Jounouchi, who along with Honda and his sister Shizuka, was sprawled across the floor. "In this case I think they're one and the same," she sneered.
Jounouchi glared at the girl with intense spite. "Hey, you don't like it, you can leave, Mai!" he snorted at her.
"Don't you talk to me that way, Jounouchi Katsuya!" Mai gasped, bending down and whacking the blonde boy upside the head. Her normal action to keep him in line. Needless to say, it was ineffective.
"Hey! That hurt!" he whined, irritated.
"Oh really? What about this?" and she smacked him again. This went on for several more rounds.
It had been awhile since the whole gang just spent time together like this. Honda figured that was the reason for Anzu's little get together. Earlier that day Honda got a call from his friend asking him to come over, and once he got there, Jounouchi, Yuugi, and Shizuka were already present, and Mai wandered in several minutes after him. At first he was slightly confused as to why Mai would come to something like this, so he'd asked Anzu about while they were in the kitchen. Apparently she'd called Mai figuring she wouldn't show up, but when Anzu asked Mai replied with "Who will be there?" When Anzu listed off the names of those she'd confirmed with, Mai nonchalantly agreed to attend. Both brunettes figure it had something to do with a certain blonde-haired idiot friend of theirs, but they weren't about to say anything. After all, it was already PAINFULLY obvious that the two had a thing for each other. They were both just way too stubborn to admit it.
Even now, as Honda watched Jou and Mai go at it for a bit, he realized just how twisted his friends were. At least in the area of relationships. There was the endless antics of Jounouchi and Mai, obviously crazy for one another but too proud to do anything about it. Then there was the triangle sitting on the chair. Anzu was head over heels for Yuugi's other self, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, while little Yuugi had been crushing on Anzu since grade school. And of course, Seto Kaiba had an unhealthy obsession with a certain dragon card. It was all like a bad teen drama. This week on Domino High.
But Honda couldn't exclude himself from the list of twisted unrequited love, as much as he wished he could. As he contemplated the…less that normal romance that surrounded him, his eyes fell upon the long auburn hair of Kawai Shizuka. Yes. It was true. Honda Hiroto had quite the crush on his best friend's little sister. It had been that way ever since Battle City when Honda took Shizuka to find Jou. At first he was just making jokes about dating the girl to get under Jou's skin, but he soon found himself stammering and blushing furiously around the sweet girl. She was so endearing, and even though Honda was much like Jou in the aspect of women, he couldn't help from thinking about her kind words and naïve nature. In this area it was rare to find someone that pure and honest. It was refreshing to say the least, and Honda had fallen. Hard.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Anzu's scream. "Ok, ENOUGH you two," she yelled at Jounouchi and Mai, who were still arguing like they were actually fighting about SOMETHING. "Honestly. Why aren't you married yet?" she sighed.
That prompted not only quite the glare from both blondes, but a deep crimson blush on Jou's cheeks, and a faint pink on Mai's. "Married!" Mai shouted back. "Who'd DATE this idiot, let alone marry?"
"What? Oh, same to you, Mai," Jou snorted back, crossing his arms in frustration. "Women."
"Idiots," Mai imitated his tone.
"…Shut up."
"ENOUGH," Anzu yelled again. "My mind can't take this anymore."
Yuugi and Shizuka smiled hesitantly at each other. Honda just shook his head. "Well, if we aren't going to watch Jou and Mai pretend to hate each other-"
"Who's pretending?" Jou sneered, and Mai whacked him again.
"-THEN WHAT exactly are we going to do?" Honda jumped in to prevent more blonde stupidity. "Any suggestions?"
Everyone turned to Anzu, and she simply blinked. "Why's everyone looking at me?" she asked.
"Your party. Didn't you have anything planned?" Jou blurted out with the tact of a jackhammer.
"Well, STUPIDLY I thought maybe we would just be happy to see each other and we'd get along, but I guess it's been longer than I thought."
Mai got an evil grin. "You know, we could always be really cheesy and play something incredibly stupid," she said slyly, picking up an empty soda bottle from the floor. "Spin the bottle, anyone?"
The 18 and under crowd simply stared at the woman in complete awe, pink and red flooding their faces. Anzu was the one to break the awkward silence. "You're not serious."
"Why not?" Mai shrugged, feigning innocence. "We're bored, we have a bottle, and no other suggestions."
"But you're talking spin the bottle, Mai!" Jounouchi flailed. "What if I end up having to kiss Honda or something?"
"Amusement for the rest of us," she smirked.
"…Oh no. I'm not playing," Jou said sternly.
"Oh, shut up, Jou. If you knew the rules you'd know that guys don't have to kiss guys….well. Unless they WANT to," Mai said slyly, sitting on the ground next to Jou and nudging him with her elbow.
That caught his attention. "What?"
"Oh come on, you guys," Mai insisted. "There's three girls and three guys. It works out perfectly! And what's the harm? It's just a little innocent fun"
Anzu protested. "If my parents catch us doing this we're HISTORY," she said. "And the thought of kissing…I don't know. Jounouchi. That's just…just…"
"Sqeamy?" Jou supplied.
"Yes. Thank you," Anzu nodded in his direction.
"Okay. Fine. I'll make you all a deal," Mai bargained. "If one of you comes up with an idea within the next minute, we'll drop the whole spin the bottle thing."
"I've got one. I vote we all jump off the roof," Jou said.
"….Let me rephrase that. A BETTER idea," Mai rolled her eyes.
"…Again I say…"
"Oh would you just shut it!"
The room went silent as everyone's minds scrambled for another idea. Mai simple sat smugly and watched as everyone tried to save themselves. At one point, Honda glanced down at his watch and saw that they had 15 seconds left. He looked at Jou's face, and it was getting redder by the second. He knew Jounouchi was thinking of the possibility of kissing Mai. That WOULD be pretty funny. It would be worth putting up with the agony of the game just for that. Across the room Honda caught Yuugi blushing and smiling sweetly at a distracted Anzu. Honda found himself rooting for that to work. The little guy deserved a chance, right?
His eyes wandered over to Shizuka again, who was pretending to tie her shoelace. Then it hit him. What if he had to kiss Shizuka? He kind of…liked the thought, but there was a large problem. Jounouchi. Shizuka's brother was…very protective of her, to say the least. He practically killed Otogi whenever he made a pass at the girl. That's why Honda never brought it up even as a joke anymore. Somehow it didn't seem funny. But in this situation how could he hide? He'd have to kiss Shizuka if his spin landed on her, or vice versa. Would Jou freak out because of that? After all…it was the game…not him…oh God.
"Time's up!" Mai cheerfully exclaimed. "So what's the verdict? Another idea, or do we whip out the chapstick?"
"…Charming as that was, Mai," Anzu pouted, defeated, "I've got nothing."
"Me neither," Yuugi said softly.
"Same," Shizuka blushed.
"Um. Yeah," Honda nodded.
"Four out of five," Mai announced, looking at Jou. "Gonna make it unanimous, Jounouchi?" she cooed.
"I…I…" he stammered, the blush deepening. "…I stand by my earlier statement."
Honda found it PAINFULLY obvious that no one had really spent the minute thinking about what else to do. It had been a minute dedicated to wishful thinking or mounting paranoia. Wonderful.
"That's it then. I win!" Mai cheered in private victory. "Everyone in a circle!" The others complied. Honda sat between Mai and Anzu, Yuugi next to Anzu, Jou next to Mai, and Shizuka directly across from him. He noticed how she didn't look up from her soft pink Converse sneakers. This must be the most awkward for her, since she was technically still in middle school….and he suddenly felt very dirty.
Mai cured him of that, though. "Alright. I'll go first," she said in a sing song tone, and gave the bottle a spin. All three boys held their breath as it slowed, and Honda caught Jou practically twitching.
The bottle stopped….on Yuugi.
Jou looked relieved and heartbroken. How subtle he was.
Mai smiled, leaned over, and placed a very soft kiss on Yuugi's cheek. "See? Not so scary?" she shrugged playfully.
Yuugi blushed and looked down at the carpet. "Mm-hmm," he muttered. "Does that mean…it's my turn?"
"Yup," Mai nodded. Yuugi hesitantly took the bottle in his hand and spun it, and the two other girls stared at it like it was a dog on fire. It stopped right between Honda and Anzu.
Yuugi stared at it a moment, then looked to Mai. "What now?"
"Hm," she pondered. "Well, let's do it like this. If it lands between people like that, let's say you pick who you wanna kiss-" Honda sighed with relief at this. No way would Yuugi choose him over Anzu. "-And the other person has to spin next." Oh, snap.
"O-okay," Yuugi nodded, stammering quietly. "Umm…A-Anzu?"
"..oh. Oh, me?" she blinked. Honda didn't know WHY. Did she expect Yuugi to kiss him? Because that was NOT going down.
Yuugi leaned over and gave Anzu possibly the softest kiss known to man. Honda was amazed when Anzu actually blushed a deep crimson. The brunette girl looked at him quickly. "Well, you're turn, Honda," she said impatiently. Apparently she wanted the heat off of her. He couldn't blame her.
Honda just looked at the bottle for a minute. He was not looking forward to this. He'd either have to kiss someone he didn't want to kiss, or kiss Shizuka and get the snot beaten out of him by Jounouchi later on, and neither option sounded all too appealing.
"We aren't getting any younger, Honda," Mai sighed.
"Thank you for the cheesy phrase, Mai," he snapped back. "I'll keep that in mind."
"…I'll forgive you since I know you're on edge," she smirked. "Now spin it."
…Damn her and her perception.
Honda finally gave the bottle a spin, watching it intently as it slowed. When it stopped with the bottle pointing directly at Shizuka, he thought he had literally died. No WAY was this happening.
Shizuka blinked widely at the bottle, her soft olive eyes a bit glazed over. Her cheeks went from soft pink to crimson almost instantly, and Honda felt his own face burn when she looked up at him.
That didn't last long, because right next to the picture of innocence was restrained rage in the form of Jounouchi. Obviously, he wanted nothing more than to rip of Honda's head (either one would do), and feed it to a rabid dog. Frightening.
"Well?" Mai rolled her eyes. "You're holding up the game, Honda."
"Yeah yeah," Honda said coldly, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "You know, this whole game is stupid."
"Stop complaining and do it," Mai argued. "You weren't saying anything when other people did it."
"Mmm," Honda mumbled, avoiding Shizuka's eyes.
"…It's ok, Honda-san," he heard Shizuka say softly. "I don't mind…"
He looked over and saw her blushing furiously, but she was smiling. That…it couldn't be.
A moment later he slowly leaned across the circle, and so did Shizuka. They met in the middle and softly pushed their lips together. The stayed a little longer than the other two did, but not long enough to raise any questions. In fact, Honda was shocked to find he was the one pulling away first.
Once both had returned to their original seats, Honda saw Mai and Anzu snickering maniacally, Yuugi quietly smiling off in his own world, probably still thinking about the kiss with Anzu, and then…Jounouchi. He was…FUMING, to say the least. Just as Shizuka reached for the bottle, Jou snatched it out from under her hand.
"I'll take this turn," he insisted, simply daring anyone to defy him. He spun the bottle, and Honda saw him glance quickly to Mai.
The bottle stopped.
It was pointed right at Jounouchi.
Mai giggled. "Pucker up, stud."
"…Oh this is just STUPID."
There's the first chapter. There'll be more, probably two or three. So keep a lookout if you're interested in what's going to happen. Later