Okay, so this is for a contest. The first round happened to be Crushshipping...So here we go?
It was a win-lose situation for Shizuka, this moving from her mother's house to her father and Jounouchi's apartment. On one hand, she really did love her brother more than her mother or father, and she'd see him more often. She could even enroll in the same school as him and his friends!
On the other hand, she didn't like her father's drinking habits. Or some of Jounouchi's old 'friends'. Or the thought of seeing her mother less often.
Still, in Shizuka's mind, the pros outweighed the cons, so she was happy to move in with her brother and father. Her brother had even cleared out their father's room on the basis of "he doesn't sleep there anyways" and designated it her room.
So Shizuka grabbed another box of her things from the back of the car, wincing slightly at its heaviness. Behind her, Jounouchi picked up the very last box. The two siblings walked up the stairs, into the shoddy little apartment, through the living room, and into Shizuka's new bedroom.
The other two boxes were waiting in her small room already, from the first trip the siblings had taken. Shizuka set the box she was carrying down by the door; Jounouchi walked past her and set his box down in the corner of the room.
The two siblings began to unpack the boxes and got her room set up even further. Jounouchi seemed dead set on making her room as perfect as it could be - Shizuka didn't know how she'd ever got such a wonderful bigger brother.
By the time they were finished, the room was set up nicely. A lamp was set up in the corner, her embarrassingly girly duvet spread over the bed, and it held a surprisingly homey feel to it. It was different than the room she'd had at her mother's house but just as much hers.
For a finishing touch, Jounouchi revealed something special, dragging a slightly worn television into the room. "One of my pals didn't need his old TV anymore, gave it to me - figured I'd let you have it, sis."
Shizuka practically squeezed the life out of him. Seriously, she'd done nothing to deserve having him as her older brother! "Thank you so much, bro!"
The two of them set the television up together, and arranged some pillows across from it in a makeshift couch. The two of them, laughing like little kids, put one of their old video tapes in the slot, and settled down to watch it.
By the end of the movie, Shizuka was completely worn out. Jounouchi seemed tired too, and it was a surprise to both of them that it was nearing midnight.
"Sis, you'd better go to sleep. It's your first day of school tomorrow after all..." Jounouchi mumbled, looking uncharacteristically concerned.
"Alright." Shizuka yawned out. "Thanks, Katsuya. You're the best big brother."
Jounouchi ruffled her reddish hair. "And you're the best lil' sis." The blond laughed a little bit as he headed out the door.
Shizuka disentangled herself from the various pillows and stumbled across the room to the bed. The redhead collapsed on the bed and wormed her way under the covers. It took only a few minutes for her to slip into a soft, dreamy world...
As the week went on, the good mood she'd acquired from moving slowly changed into something else. A little bit of disquiet spiked with loneliness. She shouldn't be lonely – she hung out with Jounouchi and his friends almost every day! Honda and Otogi seemed to make it their personal mission to never leave her side when she accompanied Jounouchi. She'd made new friends in her own grade, lovely girls, and chatted with some of the boys in her grade too.
She couldn't put her finger down on what exactly made her feel lonely. It could be the absence of her mom. Or Honda and Otogi sort of…she didn't know…they kind of isolated her from the rest of the group, she supposed. And in her classroom, everyone was already friends, making her feel like the constant third wheel.
Shizuka dwelled on that on the short walk to the apartment from school. She'd never felt like this at her mother's house, no…But it'd only been a week, and Jounouchi would be crushed if Shizuka moved back so swiftly. And besides, she didn't want to move back. Maybe, hopefully, that lonely feeling would pass.
Upon returning to the apartment, Shizuka went into her room and promptly threw her schoolbag into one corner; the horrendous pink blazer was shed next. She changed into appropriate clothes quickly, appropriate clothes being an old pair of denim jeans and a slightly baggy grey tee shirt. No point of changing into nice clothes if she didn't plan on leaving the apartment today, right?
Shizuka flopped down onto her bed, not the least bit graceful. She grabbed a comic from underneath the bed and started leisurely flipping through it. It'd been – oh, maybe fifteen minutes when there was heavy knocking on the door.
She waited for a minute, hoping that the knocking would stop or her father would answer the door. When the knocking continued, and even got louder, Shizuka got up with a groan, shoving the comic back under her bed.
The redhead yanked the door open as fast as she could. "Yes?" She asked, straining to sound as polite as possible.
"Oh hey, Shizuka. Is Jounouchi here?" Honda asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
A tiny bit of heat rose into Shizuka's cheeks. "No, he's…I think he's out somewhere. I thought he was with you and Anzu and Yugi and, um, the rest of them."
"No, not with them either." Honda scowled a little bit. "We were going to surprise Yugi at his grandpa's game shop, but I guess it's not happening."
Shizuka nodded slowly. "That's too bad. Katsuya should know better than that."
"Mm, yeah, but whatever, right?" Honda said jovially. "And – hey – where's the old man? I heard you got his room."
"Yeah, we moved all his stuff out of the room. And, I don't know where Dad is either. Katsuya said that he doesn't normally stick around; out all day, crashes on the couch, goes out again."
"He's still doing that?" Honda raised an eyebrow. "Jounouchi thought that maybe with you here, the old man would stick around to say hello. Can I see your new room? Never been in there before…"
"Oh, sure!" Shizuka said, a tad bit nervously. "It's over here, come on in." She moved away from the front door and invited the brunette into the living room. The two walked over to her bedroom door, which Shizuka opened without much ado. Honda followed her into the room, looking around as he came in.
He instantly spotted the old television on the floor, and patted its top roughly. "Jounouchi gave you this?"
"Yeah." Shizuka said, eyes widening in confusion. "Why're you asking?"
"It's my old TV! Jounouchi said you guys could use another one, and my sister owed me enough money for a newer model anyways because, well - do you remember Jouji? No, you weren't there, were you. In any case I've got a new TV now."
Shizuka smiled. "I-I see. Well, since you're here and Jounouchi's not, do you want to watch a movie with me? We've got quite a few different ones."
"Sure thing, Shizuka." Honda glanced down at her, and then away again. "Can I look through the tapes?"
"Of course!" Shizuka pointed towards under her bed. "There should be a box down there with all of them in it."
Shizuka watched Honda kneel on the ground and pull the box out from under the bed when a startling realization occurred to her. Honda and Otogi already fought – not implicitly over her, but over her all he same. The redhead pursed her lips at Honda's back.
"Hey Honda?"
He turned around half-way to look at her, hands still half buried in the box of old VCR tapes. "What?"
"You don't mind if I invite Otogi over too? If he doesn't have anything to do, of course."
Honda furrowed his eyebrows – maybe he thought she wouldn't notice, but she did – and something in his eyes tensed up. "Sure, why not?" He sounded as if he was lying through his teeth. As if. Shizuka knew he minded, a little bit, but she didn't want to start any fights over her.
"Alright then!" She smiled as she said it. "You pick out one or two movies, I'll just be in the living room."
"Alright." Honda mumbled as he turned away back to the box of VCR tapes.
Shizuka spun around and headed for the living room as soon as he had grumbled a response. The phone sat on the coffee table, settled between the numerous water rings on the wood. The girl picked up the phone, and dialed Otogi's number.
"Hello? May I speak to Otogi, please?"
The phone shifted, and suddenly it went from what Shizuka assumed to be Otogi's father's hand to Otogi's. "Yes? Hey, Shizuka! What's up?"
Otogi sat down in the pile of pillows across from the old TV as Honda put the tape in. Shizuka sat next to him, and when Honda pressed play, he sat next to her.
The movie passed by quickly. What movie had they even watched? Something for little kids…something with animated mice, maybe. It didn't matter.
They watched another movie, and another. The light from the window grew less and less, and the apartment got chilly. She'd laughed and just grabbed her pink bedspread off the bed, throwing it around all three of them.
Eventually Otogi stood up, and stretched. It had gotten later than they thought – almost ten. He announced he was going to be going home. Honda did the same.
Before they left, Shizuka rose up on the tips of her toes, and pressed a chaste kiss to both of their cheeks. "Thanks for coming, you two."
Both of the boys were shocked, and pleased. Honda blushed, somehow, an action Shizuka had never seen him do before. Otogi almost burst out – laughing? She didn't understand that, but…
It made her happy. Making both of them happy – or at least, making Honda happy and hopefully making Otogi happy – gave her a strange sense of fulfillment and pride.
And…the distinct lonely feeling she'd had earlier had been completely eradicated. Yeah. Her new home was awkward still, but she wasn't lonely anymore.
So with a bright smile on her face, Shizuka laughed along with Otogi. Honda joined in, too, and it was just – so – nice! The laughter died down after a while, as laughter is known to do, and Shizuka loathed to do it, but it was late.
Two boys were shooed out of the apartment, and out into the street. One girl returned to her room to begin picking up the light mess that had accumulated. And three hearts were completely lightened of all worries, at least for a time.