It took exactly fifteen days, fourteen nights, more than twenty instances of unconscious butt-staring, and three different wet dreams for Juudai to start wondering if he might not actually be gay.

One of the things that clinched it was accidentally catching Johan coming out of the Reds' shower and for some reason he hadn't changed while he was still in there, so he had a towel wrapped around his waist and was just! Walking! In the evening air with no shirt on! It was Juudai's turn next so he was carrying his towel and pajamas under one arm, and he stopped dead when he saw Johan walking out.

"Yo!" Johan shouted when he saw him, grinned and waved a hand. Upon walking closer, though, he saw that Juudai was staring at him, and so he stopped too. Looked down at himself. Looked back up. Began uncertainly: "Is there... something...?"

Juudai had honestly never seen biceps that defined in his life - up close, anyway - nor had he ever seen actual chest hair (thin as it was) in person, and with a start he realized that his mouth was half-open. He shut it so hastily his teeth clicked hard enough to make him wince. "You, uh." It seemed to be taking several extra seconds for his thoughts to make their way down to his mouth. "Did your clothes get stolen...?"

Johan shrugged. "No, I change back in my room, usually. Otherwise they'd get wet, right?" His hair was still dripping and the water kept landing on his shoulders before trickling down his collarbones. He laughed, then seemed to realize something. "Ah! - sorry, is this one of those Japanese culture things? I did read up about the shoes before coming but I guess I've got a lot to learn, still!"

"Uh, I - I... guess..." It wasn't until Juudai was actually in his own shower about eight minutes later that his brain seemed to rev back up to full speed. Past full speed. At speeds he hadn't thought it could go. That was the coldest shower Juudai ever gave himself in his life.

But it was no use. And taking a cold one the next night didn't help, either. Or last night. Juudai has no options left. There's only one person whom he trusts to give good advice about these matters.

"So you're asking me, what I would call it if I found myself unable to stop thinking about another duelist, a duelist I respect but have only known for a little while, a duelist whom I wouldn't mind dueling all the time, but I also just want to talk to them a lot, and then sometimes I think about if they weren't wearing a shirt a lot more when I talk to them that might be kind of okay with me." Tenjoin Fubuki steeples his fingers with his elbows propped on the chair he is sitting backwards in.

"...Well, I - "

"Those were your words."

Juudai makes a painful sound in his throat, something between slight anguish and resignation. "...Yeah."

Fubuki sighs. "Look, we both know even you aren't this naive, Juudai-kun." Juudai covers his face with his hands. "Oh come on, this is the springtime of your youth! You should be happy! I'm happy for you!" Fubuki smiles benevolently. "The beginning of a new year, new people, new challenges, and new feelings! The world is at your fingertips!"

Face as red as his jacket, Juudai speaks through his hands: "It's a guy."

"It's Johan-kun, isn't it." When Juudai pulls his hands away from his face to reveal an expression of almost-terror, Fubuki rolls his eyes. "Please, Juudai-kun, the entire school was watching your first exhibition duel, remember?"

"ohmygod"

"Don't be a drama queen." Juudai's hands go back to his face. Fubuki leans in and grins like a cat. "I seem to recall that I already have your first kiss anyway, Juu-dai-kun." He seems to leave a verbal flourish on every syllable.

Juudai drops his hands and glares. "That doesn't count. I was a freshman."

Fubuki dramatically puts a hand to his heart and leans the chair back on two legs. "You wound me! After all my good advice about love and my instruction in the holy art of affectionate kisses! There are students who would beg on their knees for hands-on experience with Duel Academy's own Love Magician, and yet it is said I don't count!"

Juudai mutters, "Fubuki-san is a predator..."

"Well, at any rate." Fubuki leans forward again and the chair lands squarely with a thump. "Clearly you have to confess."

"I'm not risking the Spirit Gates again."

"I wasn't going to—That was one time." Fubuki seems genuinely wounded this time. "Anyway, that was Manjoume-kun's deal. He wanted attention. I assume you don't."

Juudai shakes his head. Sighs. "I just..." He makes a gesture with one hand, like he doesn't know how to say something.

Fubuki sighs. "I know. He's a champion. He's a one-of-a-kind duelist. And he speaks to spirits, like you. You don't want to lose the friendship you've already struck up." He gives Juudai an encouraging smile, but his eyes look sad. "You might be right to worry about something like that, Juudai-kun. But if I've learned anything, it's that things happen. You can lose anything at any time, but opportunities to gain something special are rare and precious." He points at Juudai, his finger hovering an inch from his chest. "Take them."

But the next time Juudai is out and about with Johan, he's explaining the Draw-Bread concept to him and then both their mouths are full because Johan had bought about six just to see if he'd get the golden eggwich (no dice), and anyway they're right out in public. And then the next time, they're hanging around in the dorm while Shou takes a shower and Kenzan is out, but Shou could come back at any second, so that doesn't work.

Finally, it's one of those days when the sun is shining beautifully and the air is fresh and Juudai hadn't let himself skip class in a while, so he sneaks out to the fishing hole to see if they're biting. He's not out there for ten minutes before a faint shadow passes the sun and he looks up to see Cobalt Eagle circling overhead and he's both giddy and half-terrified in a dizzying way. Sure enough, Johan crashes through the underbrush a minute later, looking around - "Yo! Juudai!"

"Hey!" Juudai waves back. Ruby Carbuncle dashes up behind Johan and climbs up his back before he moves again, sitting down next to Juudai.

"No class today, huh?" Johan raises his eyebrows.

"I could say the same for you, new student," Juudai taunts. This sparks a twenty-minute conversation about the relative benefits of attending a class more densely populated with Blue students as opposed to Red and Yellow students, whether North Academy and Duel Academy's respective curricula match up properly, and what is with that Chronos guy anyway though. The conversation is a blessing because by the time Juudai remembers that he has something important to say, they've already been laughing for nearly five minutes about Johan renaming Professor Cobra "Cobra Kai" (and Juudai explaining that in Japan, The Karate Kid was retitled Best Kid).

"Hey, Johan," Juudai says, after they've fallen over backwards to look at the clouds and studiously ignore Hane Kuriboh and Ruby Carbuncle fighting again. "Do you ever think about..." Shoot, Juudai started this sentence and now he has no idea how he's going to end it. "About, like...?"

"About what?" Johan rolls over onto his belly, puts his elbows on the ground and props his chin in his hands.

Juudai cranes his neck back and makes eye contact with Johan from the ground. "About – like – when... you're... when you're with someone and..." He keeps trailing off, like gravity keeps pulling his words back down his throat.

"Yeah, I think about that all the time," Johan says. Juudai glares as Johan starts laughing, lifting his chin off his hands to give himself room.

"Don't be an ass..." Juudai sits up, his back now to Johan, who's still laughing. He needs to collect his thoughts, he needs to bite the bullet and do it, because Fubuki's going to dig at him tonight if he doesn't, but more importantly because this might be the best opportunity he gets in days, and if he waits any longer he'll lose his nerve again. Taking on Kagemaru was a lot less scary than this, somehow! He turns around and Johan is now mock-batting his eyes at him from the ground, chin back in his hands, and it's infuriating and funny and Johan enough to give Juudai the burst of do-it-without-thinking guts to say:

"I like you."

Johan smiles, his eyes open and innocent. "Sure, Juudai, I like you, too!"

A beat. Juudai realizes he's going to have to repeat himself. "No, Johan, what I'm trying to say is that I like you." The sun is shining and playing over the surface of the water, and a breeze is stirring the trees nearby, and the fishing rods lay forgotten nearby, and it is a beautiful, beautiful day on which to get your heart broken. Oh, god.

Johan smiles even wider, displaying a lot more teeth. Wait. Juudai recognizes this expression; it's the one Johan made right before he'd admitted he didn't actually have Rainbow Dragon in his deck. Is he- ? "Sorry, I didn't catch it that time. Want to say it again? Please?"

"I..." If he has to say this one more time... "I like you. Johan."

"One more ti—"

Johan doesn't get to finish this sentence because Juudai shoves him so hard that he rolls into the fishing hole and yelps loudly when he hits the water. He breaches the water like a spastic dolphin a few moments later, flailing and splashing. His already-too-thin shirt is basically translucent now, clinging to the parts of his shoulders and arms that break the water's surface. "I see, so that's your plan! Get my defenses down and assault me!" Johan shakes his head, spraying water off his hair like a dog, treading water. He's still wearing that manic grin, but now it's touched with a suspicious edge.

"Quit screwing around!" Juudai yells from shore. He's grinning now, too, but his smile is guarded as well. The words "I like you" seem to hang in the air between them like a banner, a wager on the table during a duel. Or a staring contest. Whoever flinches towards them first loses.

Johan kicks backwards towards a shelf of rock nearby. "Or maybe you're just trying to get me out of my clothes? I can't read you, man!" He makes it to the natural rock wall and clings to it. Pushes his hair out of his eyes so that it sticks up in wet spikes. Juudai doesn't say anything in reply this time, just crosses his arms. They're both still smiling that smile that's more teeth than heart, like a veiled threat display. They've known each other for all of a month now; Juudai's never seen Johan seem this tightly wound. Maybe Juudai screwed up, maybe Johan is angry, maybe he thinks Juudai is trying to tease him. He does come from North Academy, where all those big guys that followed Manjoume came from back in first year. Maybe Johan had a hard time with them there, being comparatively short and fresh-faced and his voice isn't that deep, and seeing spirits, and maybe that's why Johan doesn't hesitate to crack jokes that piss off ninety percent of the people around him and—

"Hey, Juudai?" Juudai realizes he got lost in thought for a second. He's lost the smile. Johan has, too. Johan's knuckles are white where his fingers grip seams in the surface of the rock, holding himself mostly upright without having to tread water.

Juudai uncrosses his arms. "Yeah?"

Johan swallows. "You really... meant it, there?"

Juudai doesn't know whether to laugh or to cry or to start yelling or to lie and get out of jail free. Sorry, man, I was just yanking your chain, all in good fun, right? Sorry I took it too far? He opens his mouth, hesitates. "I meant it. The whole way."

Johan looks down. "Oh." His fingers grip tighter. "I—I'm sorry, I..." shouldn't have been an ass about it, sorry he's saying or something, but Juudai hears the first "sorry" and he's sort of blanking out right now. Right, okay, this was a dumb idea. A really dumb idea. Juudai should know better than to listen to Fubuki anyway. Johan starts climbing up the rock ledge to get out of the water, instead of swimming around to where it's shallower, and Juudai is still standing there with a dumb look on his face (he can't see it but he knows it's probably a dumb look) and a kind of rushing in his ears like waves, and he's not sure what he wants right now other than to crawl into a really, really deep hole and die.

Johan heaves himself up to the grass, rolling over onto his back and panting. If Juudai were in a state of mind that wasn't collapsing in on itself, he'd have noticed that Johan's shirt was indeed totally see-through right now. He walks over to check if Johan is alright.

Johan sits up. "Juudai, I want to—"

"It's okay," Juudai says, shaking his head, waving a hand.

"No, I need to—"

"Listen, it's fine—"

"You listen!" This startles Juudai into silence. Johan sits up, gets to his feet. He reaches out and grabs Juudai by the shoulders, his sleeves dripping onto Juudai's arms. His hands are wet and cold; Juudai can feel them through his jacket. Johan stares him down with an intensity Juudai hasn't felt since they first met and discovered they could both see spirits. "Juudai." And then Johan smiles, warmly, not like he's telling a joke, not like he's clowning around or being defensive. "I like you too."

Juudai can feel his shoulders start to shake. No, he thinks, this is great and this is the best thing that I could hope for, and that's why I'm not sure that this is even happening. Johan grips harder, and Juudai says, "This is the part where you throw me in, right?"

"Caught," Johan says, and heaves him sideways.

Juudai hits the water shoulder-first—he's lucky it wasn't neck-first, damn you Johan Andersen—and underwater he hears the thump of someone else diving in. He surfaces with a half-scream. "Da-aamn it, Johan, it's cold!" he yells, as Johan's head breaks the water a few feet away.

Johan paddles over, and they tread water, staring each other down. Juudai breaks first, a few small chuckles that grow into a fit of laughter—Johan's laughing, too, big whole-hearted laughs that make the water ripple—and it's like the sun came back out. Johan rests his arms on Juudai's shoulders and kicks his knees up to Juudai's hips. "You confessed first," he says, grinning again. "Does that make you the girl, or me?"

"Beats me," Juudai says, stabilizing their weight in turn by grabbing Johan's waist underwater. "Duel you for it?"

"You're on," Johan says, and wraps his arms all the way around the back of Juudai's neck, leans forward, and plants his lips on Juudai's. Which is really, really wonderful for all of about eight seconds before the combination of their center of gravity shifting and both of them letting too much air out of their lungs to stay buoyant ensures that they suddenly sink and nearly swallow water. They separate, splashing and coughing and half-laughing. "God, I hope the Gem Beasts weren't watching," Johan splutters, looking toward shore where their backpacks and fishing rods lay forgotten.

Juudai just takes in a lungful of air and floats on his back, eyes shut and turned toward the sun. The light streams in red through his eyelids, warm. This is real. This happened. This is a real thing that's happening. And he can see in his mind's eye everything that's ahead: duels, bad jokes, more kissing (way more), and maybe, just maybe... Something he can't even imagine. Something totally new.

"Hey, Juudai."

Juudai cracks one eyelid. "Mm?"

"How are we going to get our clothes dry, huh?"

Juudai shuts his eye again and smiles. "Beats me..."

FIN