I'm back after a very long break filled with a lot of non-fanfic writing. Anyone miss me? (I doubt anyone remembers me, actually. Heh.)
Um...notes... Well, it's probably not obvious, but I'm one of roughly five Tristan-Serenity fans in the known universe. I make no apologies for this because the two are far too cute together in the virtual world (otherwise known as one of two-three sections of the series that did not actually take place in the manga).
Oh, and I apologize now for how Yugi ended up getting used. I didn't mean to make him the straight man, but I also didn't want to leave him out. So...this is what happened. Sorry.
As usual with any fanfic, only the storyline belongs to me. Everything else belongs to Takahashi-sensei.
Tristan Taylor carefully scanned the group of first-years invading the lunch room, hoping for a glimpse of long auburn hair. This was his favorite part of the day, and had been ever since Serenity Wheeler started attending his school.
Our school, he reminded himself as his best friends sat down. Yugi greeted him with only a nod while Joey ranted on about something. He was so riled up that Tristan couldn't make out what he was saying. Not that it mattered. His eyes were already searching again.
"Tristan, you better not be doin' what I think you're doin'!" Joey snarled.
Oops! Busted! "Nah, man! I'm just keeping an eye out for Teá."
"But Teá has dance practice," Yugi sipped his milk absently, unaware of the problem he had just caused.
"Tristan!" Joey roared, "I absolutely forbid you to date my sister."
The brunette would have reacted, but it was pointless. The most he'd managed was to give her his phone number, right after Duke Devlin had done the same.
"What if she asks him?" And in that quiet question, the champion duelist nearly soothed the temper he'd accidentally ignited.
Joey sat down, more smug now than angry, "If, by some miracle, Serenity was to ask you out, then I might let you date her. But she doesn't seem to be all that interested in guys yet, so I got no worries."
"And isn't your sister on a field trip anyway?" Yugi asked between bites of sandwich.
Tristan slowly sank under the table.
The next day, Tristan waited near Serenity's class. When the bell rang, she walked out with her friends.
"Hey, Serenity," he'd hoped to catch her alone, walk with her to lunch.
"Hi, Tristan!" She sent her friends on ahead. "What are you doing here?"
He scratched the back of his head. "Um, I needed to catch up with something." She smiled, and he let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "So, the aquarium is opening their new beach exhibit this weekend."
Amber eyes lit up. "Oh, that would be the perfect place to drag Joey!"
"Joey?" Tristan's voice caught in his throat.
"I've wanted to ask him to hang out with me, give him a break from Duel Monsters for a day. This will be perfect! Thanks so much for letting me know, Tristan."
"No problem." Tristan watched, dumbfounded, as Serenity ran toward the lunchroom. He wondered what Plan B was.
A couple of days later, as the group splintered to various activities, Tristan casually approached Serenity.
"What are your plans for the afternoon, Serenity?"
"Mokuba has invited me to check out a new attraction at Kaibaland."
He fought back a growl. Serenity and Mokuba had built a strong friendship around being the younger sibling of an utter bonehead. He couldn't begrudge her that, no matter how much he wanted to date her. Besides, he realized, he wouldn't be much of a friend if he tried to keep her from hanging out with her friends anyway.
"That sounds like fun. Bring me back a souvenir."
"I will. See you later, Tristan." He waved as she rushed off toward a KaibaCorp limo.
Tristan dropped onto a nearby bench. "Great! Now I'm jealous of Mokuba. This is stupid."
Not too far down the sidewalk, a familiar teen waved to him. "Tristan, we're headed to the game shop. Want to come?"
A chance to spend time with his own friends was better than wallowing in his own lameness. A carefully placed smile on his face, Tristan ran to catch up with Yugi.
November pushed on at a fast pace, and Serenity's birthday was rapidly approaching. Tristan had become so focused on seeing how many different ways he could get her to not ask him out that it nearly slipped his mind.
Now he wandered the streets of Domino trying to find the perfect gift for the girl of his dreams. He stopped in every boutique and gift shop in the shopping district before he decided he really wanted to get her a book. Ever since her eye operation, Serenity had become a voracious reader. It was perfect.
As he headed out of the shopping district, he noticed a side road he'd never seen before. Curious, he followed it to a weathered door near the end. The sign was worn out, but Tristan could make out the word "books".
"I guess it couldn't hurt." He forced the door open and stepped inside. Bells jingled over his head. His eyes slowly adjusted to the low light and he heard a shuffling approaching him.
"Oh, it's just you." Tristan's eyes had focused enough to make out a man not much bigger than Yugi. The man, whose short black hair looked wilder than the spiky-haired duelist's, slowly looked Tristan over. He'd never felt so violated by a single glance.
Finally the man nodded, a gleam in his eye, "You want the back wall."
Tristan looked over his head. The store was fairly dusty, even in the dim lighting, but the back of the store looked particularly foreboding.
The books at the back of the shop were less dusty, a sign of the customers the old man truly served. Titles jumped off the shelf. "Green Witchcraft. The Tarot and You. Ancient Egyptian Rituals. What are these?" Convinced he'd been sent back as a joke, Tristan turned to leave.
Another title caught his attention, and he thumbed through it. "I don't know how lonely my heart is, but-- Wait!" A recipe made him stop and smile. "This could work. Potions for a Lonely Heart, you are coming with me!"
The old man smiled knowingly as Tristan walked out.
Two days before Serenity's birthday, Tristan holed himself up in his room. The space was dark except for the only candle he could find, a floral-scented votive that reminded him of his grandmother. The light was barely enough to allow him to read the "recipe".
On the floor in front of him sat a clear glass bowl and several measuring devices scattered among the herbs and bottles. "I hope this works." Deliberately, he pulverized a couple of the herbs into a fine powder, stopping occasionally to add another herb to the blend. Finally, he added rose water to his powdered mix and watched as the herbs slowly swirled in the foul-smelling concoction.
He poured the brew into an empty water bottle and left it on his windowsill.