Notes: For the gx_100. Set post-GX, with the presumption that the others could still contact Juudai. I apologise to Ryo/Edo fans for any inaccuracies in this, it's not an area of the fandom that's in my comfort zone to write.
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"How do you even know that I know his number? Or better yet, how do you even know ,imy/i phone number?"
Edo was just edging out of holding the phone at arm's length, the other seemed to have stopped shouting and calmed down.
"Oh, that was easy, Juudai gave me yours," replied Fubuki.
A mental note was made to change his phone number and not give the new number to Juudai. That boy was too cheerful to think twice about handing out details like that to just anyone who happened to ask.
"You should ask him for the other one then," argued Edo, feeling disgruntled.
"Ryo hardly gave his number to anyone…" came the crackled voice of Fubuki.
"Not even his best friend?" The sudden silence said to Edo that he'd hit a sore spot.
"Former best friend. Now are you going to give me the number or not?" aggravation crept into Fubuki's tone.
Leaning back on the chair he was sitting in Edo answered, "I don't see why I should."
"You owe me a favour!" shot Fubuki.
"What favour would that be?" asked Edo, racking his brain to try and remember.
There was a pause at the other end. This was a huge setback on Fubuki's part. Usually he would tell people they owed him favours and they'd just believe him. Nobody ever questioned what the favours were that they owed, they just all accepted that somewhere down the line Fubuki had done something for them and now they owed him something in return.
After the paused lengthened Edo prompted, "Well?"
A sigh.
"Do this and I'll owe you a favour, all right?" said Fubuki in a defeated tone.
"What sort of favour would I possibly ask you for?" as Edo replied the laugh was hardly concealed. He didn't even try.
"Ever have any trouble with your love life?" asked Fubuki hopefully.
"I'm Edo Phoenix."
"Good point," said Fubuki, tapping a side table thoughtfully, "Well if you ever want to make a guest appearance on my TV show when I'm famous consider it done."
"I have more class than that," Edo debated, but seeing this was getting nowhere he went on, "But regardless, why would you want it so bad?"
"I didn't call to give you my life story," Fubuki answered.
"And I'm not here for the good of my health. There are other things to do around here, so if you'll excuse me I'll be going." Tormenting the older boy was more fun than it should be.
"Fine, if you really want to know I just want to talk to him. He's been in a bad way recently and it seems like a good time to try and fix what we lost," admitted Fubuki.
"Your friendship?"
"Among other things…" trailed off Fubuki.
That really hit home to Edo. The mentioned 'other things' didn't need elaborated on, as somehow he just knew. Even though neither of them had ever mentioned it. He'd not spoken so much as a few words to Fubuki before today and despite having walked the Dark World with Ryo the boy hadn't divulged so much as a word about himself. He was annoyingly secretive. Regardless there was something of an unspoken air around Ryo and Fubuki.
He tried not to let it sting too much.
"You're just unlucky that I don't know it," Edo said, maliciously.
"You do, if you didn't you would have told be straight away so I'd stop bothering you," said Fubuki, aware of how he could use his annoying traits to get people to talk.
Scowling at the phone, though Fubuki couldn't see it, Edo replied, "I don't need to do enough of a favour for you so that you can find your precious friend and live happily ever after."
"I thought you might say that," Fubuki tone was too level for the accusation that had been made, "You have every right not to tell me. All's fair in love and war, so they say."
"Love?" So Fubuki actually acknowledged it. The times that Edo had trailed around, following Ryo's footsteps only to be ignored by Ryo, and his 'rival' for Ryo was the one who noticed it. That was a nuisance.
"You like him too," Fubuki said, "You're worried that I might take him from you and you've got every right not to help me out in finding him. But just know that there's been nothing between Ryo and myself for years."
"And if you found him again?" asked Edo, his pulse quickening unusually.
"I would like there to be more," Fubuki answered truthfully.
So there it was. This boy had rung asking for Ryo's number and if Edo gave that to him there was a chance that him and Ryo might get together. And Edo would lose any chance he had.
He did have the number too, but only for work. If it hadn't been for them both being Pro League duellists he probably wouldn't have it at all. Fubuki was right about Ryo not readily handing out methods to contact him. Since it was a work number there was no guarantee that Ryo would even answer, but it was the only chance Fubuki had.
…Edo had, rather.
Yet… all is ifair/i in love and war. The fair part of that sentence was often forgotten. Fubuki had as much of a shot at Ryo as Edo did.
"You can have the number," said Edo, after much conflict with himself, he'd opened the book on Ryo's number while they'd been talking anyway, "But just remember that you owe me a lot of this."
"Favours are something I'm good at," assured Fubuki.
Their game had just started.