Notes – Done for ygodrabble. Set after Battle City, probably post-canon.
Otogi was good with girls.
This was pretty much fact – it tended to vary, but for a general view Otogi was very good at dealing with them.
Most of the time he didn't even really try, it was all a matter of appearance, of social standing, of flicking your hair in just the right way, and most importantly a matter of language.
It all came down to what you said to them. Some girls, like Anzu, were instantly immune to his charms – they saw through him and nothing he could say would change their minds. But that didn't bother Otogi too much, because there were plenty of others who'd melt at the sound of his well-placed compliments.
But words were the sort of thing that could get you thinking about what they really meant. His use of them tended to revolve around the best way to get what he wanted, so he didn't give much consideration to them, but sometimes he couldn't help himself and let his mind wander.
Currently it was stuck on the equation of friendship, romance and love.
Otogi was pretty sure he understood romance. What he did was romance. The brief moment of attraction, the affection without strings attached. Romance was a passing charm.
And it was hard to spend any amount of time around Yuugi and his group of friends without seeing what friendship was. To be close to people, to actually care about them, to go out of your way to do something for them. Friendship was for the long-term, not like romance at all.
But what was love?
No one could really, truly answer that question. But most should try to think about what it meant for them. The way Otogi saw it was that there was a lot of overlap between the elements that made up romance and friendship, but it wasn't a clear definition.
How would someone like him, who spent their life constantly flirting, be able to pick out actual love from all the fakery?
The heavy sound of footsteps announced that someone else had arrived. He looked over to see Jounouchi plonk himself gracelessly down on the wall. He'd forgotten that the others were just through in his apartment.
"You got sick of trying to figure out simple picture puzzles?" he asked, jokingly.
"Laugh all you want, dice boy, but after more than twenty minutes of Picross my brain begins to fry," Jounouchi muttered, "Thought I'd come out here to see what you're doing."
"Nothing much, only thinking about things that would be too difficult for you to understand," retorted Otogi.
"Try me," the other boy growled.
"Love."
He expected Jounouchi to yell at him for being gross, what he didn't expect was for him to grab him by the shirt and pull him up.
"This better not be about my sister!"
"No, no!" Otogi gasped, pulling back, "Nothing like that, love in general. You know, how you notice it."
This seemed to settle Jounouchi, who backed off and said, "Well, if you can't spot love then what chance do the rest of us have?"
They both smirked at that for a moment. Then Jounouchi's memory caught up with him.
"This better not mean you're thing for Shizuka is anything less than genuine or I'll have to kick your ass."
Sometimes even someone like Otogi, who knew exactly what to say to the opposite sex, could slip up on words. Never talk about love to her older brother – he thought he'd do well to remember that one.
