AN: I keep getting ideas for YGO fics, but, unlike the others, this one is never going to be more than a simple oneshot. Thank god.
Title: Išq
Summary: Love is love, but it's different for all of them. Vanish/Revolution, Heart, Trust, Polar, Thief, and Crush shippings
Genre: Romance
For Atem and Anzu, love is wordless. A shared glance, soft smiles – the simple understanding that comes from one hand in another is more than enough. Sometimes, though, her fingers tighten around his, as if she's afraid she'll wake up, and it will all have been a dream. He squeezes back, partially to let her know he's still there, but also to remind himself that this is real. He's real. She's real. They're real.
Mai and Jounouchi are friends, but he goes to live with her once he's eighteen and his dad no longer has custody. They're friends, they say, and there are probably benefits, but no one ever questions it. They mean more to each other than words dulled by Hollywood clichés and needless media coverage, and their friendship will always be the more important part of their relationship. Always. (There are times when Mai wakes up in a cold sweat, still feeling sand dribbling down around her, and Jounouchi makes her an omelet or something because he still can't quite get Arrabiata sauce right and it's not really a snack food anyway.)
Kaiba and Isis are never more than associates, not even friends, really. But there's a faint glimmer of amusement in Isis's eyes when Kaiba scoffs at "magic" and the like, and the nicknames are less an act of aggression and more out of habit. Rishid has babysat Mokuba more than once, while the two have dinner and talk business (which is about as close as either of them can get to flirting), and there's a pattern there, a rhythm, that neither one dares to break. But gentle eye rolls and infuriating smirks seem to pass as communication, and they aren't blushing school children who pull away at the slightest brush of fingers.
Shizuka is young, too young for a relationship at first, and Otogi and Honda are still trying to figure themselves out. They like her, but somewhere along the road they might have started liking each other as well, and neither one really knows how to handle that. They go to coffee shops, fight for Shizuka's attention, and try not to think about each other. Otogi is bisexual, and he's known it for a while, but this is Honda, and he can barely tolerate him on the best of days. Honda, on the other hand, has never looked at another man in that sense, and it confuses him when he catches himself thinking about Otogi in any manner that isn't "rival". Shizuka just smiles, happy to let them work their relationship out on their own because she too is growing and learning, and she understands that these things take time. She's always been patient, after all.
Sometimes, Yuugi traces the scar on Bakura's hand while they talk. Bakura pretends not to notice, but his chest feels warm and lighter than it usually does when he's reminded of the Monster World fiasco. Sometimes, Bakura holds Yuugi while he trembles because there's no response when he tries to talk to the Pharaoh anymore, and he's not used to that (Anzu says it's the same for Atem as well, but it's not quite the same, and they all know it). Sometimes, Bakura forgets things because his mind is so used to blank spots in his memory that his brain seems to wipe away events, and somehow it's Tuesday already. Sometimes, Yuugi remembers things that couldn't possibly have happened in his lifetime, and Bakura jokes that he remembers enough for both of them.
Bakura and Marik's relationship is almost entirely sexual. Neither one really understands how to handle anything deeper, and both fear what might happen if they tried. Marik makes sure to touch every bit of Bakura's body (everyone calls the Thief "Bakura", but somehow it's always easy to tell when it's Marik's Bakura or Yuugi's), as though afraid that whatever had dragged him and the Pharaoh back into the realm of the living might just as soon take him away again. Bakura reminds Marik that he hates him, unfailingly, but he never leaves. Their dreams are filled with whips and hot knives, with gold and fire and screams, but they wake to one another, and Bakura rolls his eyes and Marik thinks that perhaps that's a sort of love too.
AN: And… that's my first YGO fic. I hope you liked it, I really hope you review, and thanks for reading! Kitty out.