So… I needed a little break from Sunset Horizon and this was already half-done, so I decided to top it off. This fic comes with an overload of cheese, so en garde!
The cover is a fanart I found during my occasional bout of Tumblr stalking. It's not mine and credit goes to the original artist. Edited and title added by me.
Many, many thanks to my beta, RobotFish, for his help with proofing and card game terminology. Goodness knows that's the most useful skill in the world to have ;)
The Winner Takes it All
Carly sat at her desk, shuffling through the mountain of paperwork she had gathered there. Her current story was one about the recent trends of fashion in Rome and, though she was grateful to Misty for helping her get the job, she was really at loss when it came to fashion. Again, thanks to Misty, she now dressed in fashionable clothes and shoes that hurt her feet for her job.
However, now that she was camped out at her apartment, she was dressed in an oversized t-shirt that kept falling off one shoulder and fuzzy slippers. She liked it when she could work from home. The fussy clothes didn't suit her at all, and she knew some of her coworkers were spiteful towards her for her connections to Misty Tredwell.
It really wasn't her fault that she tried to destroy the world alongside the supermodel. Or maybe they were taking it over. She still wasn't clear on that.
She spun her desk chair in a circle, gnawing on the end of her pen while glancing over a few photographs of models she was supposed to be writing about. Her vocabulary had expanded greatly since she started this job, and words such as 'alluring,' 'avant-garde,' and 'bohemian' became a part of her everyday speech. She was glad to be away from her internship back in New Domino, but there were only so many perks a full-paying job in the fashion field could offer.
She got to live on her own in a fully-functional apartment, she sometimes got clothes for free, she got to go to exclusive parties, and she even got to travel sometimes. The downsides were that she had to wear certain clothes to work, buy most of said clothes herself, and she wasn't able to see any of her old friends in New Domino very often.
The extremely positive side was that she did occasionally get to travel to cities where a certain blond duelist king was currently in a tournament. Due to the nature of Jack Atlas's popularity and her friendship with him, her boss would often give her permission to interview him when she wound up in the same place as him. He would usually accept when she called and had only proven that he was indeed attracted to her.
He had left New Domino four years ago with the cold words that he would become the King and didn't need a woman to slow him down. However, the long-distance relationship they shared seemed to be all right with him. He could duel as he wanted, when he wanted, but he was still able to sit down and enjoy a nice dinner with her now and then.
She had mentioned she worked for a fashion magazine and that Misty had gotten her in on it, but she had always done her best to avoid wearing her high-end clothes around him. She wanted to be the same, gawky Carly he had known when she was with him. Though he had yet to initiate it, they had spoken on the phone now and then and she was always sure to call him after a tournament and congratulate him on his win. If she couldn't get through, she would leave a message, but she always made sure to call him.
She loved him, she knew, and the nights they'd spent together on a short vacation on a set of American islands only convinced her that he felt the same. Every time she saw him, she would hope and pray that he would invite her to stay with him, but he always just gave an awkward expression, coughed a short, 'take care of yourself,' then turn and take off on his runner.
The least he could do is give her an 'I love you.'
She frowned, tossing the photograph back to her desk and sighing heavily. So much for concentrating on work. A glance at the clock on her desk yielded it to be after midnight and a peek at her 'Jacklendar'—her Jack Atlas calendar—revealed that he did indeed have a duel today that started at eleven in her local time zone. Panicking, she snatched up her television remote and turned it on, hoping she wasn't too late to catch the match.
She tucked her legs against her chest and settled her chin on her knees, watching the turbo duel as the camera circled around Jack. From what she could tell by tuning in late, he had three monsters on his field—one of which was Red Dragon Archfiend—and two face-downs. His opponent had an empty field and one facedown. Jack had twenty-six hundred Life Points left, his opponent had seven hundred. No doubt he would win.
Carly had learned a lot from watching all of Jack's duels. One facedown could change the outcome of a duel in the blink of an eye, but Jack was ready. He sent one of his monsters to attack, the thing she couldn't remember the name of attacking with enough strength to end the duel if his opponent didn't use his face-down or some other technique.
As she expected—she really was getting better at this—he activated his trap card to cancel the battle phase that turn. Jack frowned, but didn't let it bother him as his third monster, the one that didn't attack nor Red Dragon Archfiend, was sent to the Graveyard for failing to initiate an attack. She was proud of herself for remembering that effect of Archfiend.
Text scrolled across the bottom of the screen in Portuguese, making her check her calendar again to see his duel was taking place in Brazil and she had tuned into the local broadcast as opposed to the Italian or English one. She spoke English and Japanese fluently, and was conversational with Italian. It was a good thing she wrote articles in English.
She checked the internet for the channel featuring the English broadcast and quickly switched to it before she could miss too much, then watched as his opponent—whose name she could now read as Eubans—played a monster and summoned a Synchro monster with a spell card combo. She hadn't ever seen the monster before, but it was still weaker than Archfiend by three hundred attack points. Jack had this in the bag.
Jack's turn came around and she watched as he drew his card with exaggerated flamboyance. She never did understand that. He played a tuner monster and had it combine with the other of his monsters, creating another Synchro to stand beside Archfiend. The new Synchro attacked on Jack's order, leaping towards his opponent's Synchro.
Carly frowned, wondering what Jack was up to. Eubans's monster had twenty-seven hundred attack points, while Jack's new one had only twenty-two hundred. That would make him take damage. She couldn't help it as she screamed out, shouting, "What are you doing, Jackie?" at the television.
Her question was answered when his monster's effect went into play, forcing his opponent to return a spell or trap card lying face-down to his hand. She hadn't even noticed when Eubans had played that. He would still take damage, though. She hugged her knees, wondering what Jack had in store when he played one of his own face-downs to give his monster a three-hundred attack point boost for each speed spell in his hand. He showed two speed spells, which gave his monster six-hundred more points of attack.
Her jaw dropped as one leg slipped out from under her, her eyebrows rising as she took in the sight of his monster suddenly dealing damage instead of taking it. She loved watching Jack duel. Once his monster returned to his field, he sent Red Dragon Archfiend after his opponent for the finishing blow, dealing well more than the amount of damage needed to end the duel.
With no more face-down cards on the field, Eubans had no choice but to take the damage as his runner's compartments opened and steam spilled out onto the course. The duel ended and the camera snapped over to Jack, pointing his finger straight up for his signature victory shot.
Carly couldn't help but squeal in delight as she jumped to her feet and did a victory dance of her own. Another win for Jack! She smiled and moved to the kitchen to grab a bottle of flavored water from the fridge, glancing over the door to see Jack's post-duel interview with the on-sight emcee. She smiled as he snatched the mic from the man and pointed towards the camera harshly, saying, "I have one thing to say tonight! Carly Carmine, I know you're watching this! I love you and I want you to marry me."
She turned back to the fridge, trying to decide which fruity taste to go with for the night. Freezing, she registered what Jack had just said and jumped to look at the screen again, bumping her head on the top of the fridge in the process. What did he just say? She scrabbled over to grab the remote and hit the 'rewind' button, replaying his words one more time. There was no doubt about it.
Jack Atlas had just asked her to marry him. On live television.
Her cell phone started to buzz on her desk and she absently picked it up without checking the caller. Jack was still on TV, so it wasn't him. "Hello?"
"Hey, it's Elia. Carly, are you watching Jack Atlas's duel?"
Elia was a friend of hers from the magazine, one of the other semi-normal and non-size-zero-obsessed girls there. She was still thin, weighing less than Carly, probably, and she worked as a photographer. She was Carly's best friend in Rome, though she still wasn't that close and didn't know the full extent of Carly's and Jack's relationship. Until now.
"Uh, yeah…" she muttered, her eyes staring at the image of Jack on the screen, the sports channel now showing replays of highlights from the duel. "I saw it."
"Did you hear what he said at the end during the world's shortest interview?"
She nodded, then realized her friend couldn't see it through the phone and said, "Yeah…"
"Unless he knows another Carly Carmine, I think he just proposed to you."
A beep sounded in her ear and she pulled the phone away to glance at it before saying, "Hang on a second. I'm getting another call." Just before pressing the 'end call' key, she muttered quickly, "It's Jack."
Pressing the end key, she took a deep breath before placing the phone up to here ear, hearing him say, "-ly? Carly, are you there?"
She swallowed her spit and nodded, once again not realizing her conversation partner couldn't see her. "Yeah, Jack. I'm here."
"Were you watching my duel?"
She was surprised that Jack was calling her, instead of waiting for her to call him. Throughout their relationship, he had only called her twice before, and that was when he needed her help during the WRGP and the battle against Z-one. He must really want an answer, and she had no idea what to tell him. She reached up, awkwardly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Uh, yeah. I still have it on, actually. They're showing highlights still."
He was silent for a short moment, then a slight, awkward cough sounded and he prompted, "Well?"
She froze, finally falling down to sit in her chair again. "Um…"
"Carly?"
Why didn't he sound the least bit awkward? Why was she the only one feeling like she was hit by a truck at full speed? "Uh, Jack, I… That's…"
"-a no, is that it?"
"No!" she shouted, unable to stop herself. "It's not that, it's just… You never even said 'I love you' before now…"
The other end of the phone was quiet for a bit before he spoke, saying, "Does that bother you?"
Her voice sounded small, even to her, as she whispered, "A little bit, yeah."
"Honestly, Carly, I never said it because I thought you already knew. Besides, I'm not exactly what you would call romantic."
He was to her. He always was. Always the gentleman, always sweet, always caring. He never yelled at her nor raised his hand to her. He always treated her like she was the most valuable thing in the world and always seemed to prefer making himself awkward over doing something that could bother her. Not that he was ever awkward, but nothing he did ever really upset her, either. She knew how bold and self-absorbed he was and had long since adapted to expect certain things from him. It wasn't a matter of him being 'the perfect man' to her, so much as him being exactly who she expected him to be.
"Jack, I…" she started, than took a deep breath before resting her forehead in her hand. "Did you have to do that on TV?"
He coughed again before a rustling sounded, one that was unmistakably the noise caused by his coat flipping. Was he changing his clothes while on the phone with her? Her heart flipped in her chest as she bit down a sigh. What could she possibly tell him? She loved him, yes, but was she ready for marriage? She was only twenty-four years old and reaching the peak of her career.
But did she want to be a fashion columnist for the rest of her life? She wanted to report things like crime and politics. Things that would be exciting to dig deep into, find out the facts, and exploit them to the world. That was what she wanted to do, not look at pictures of what people were wearing and write an article based on what was 'in.'
Could she do that if she married him? She shook her head. Was she really weighing her answer on her career? Was she seriously making her choice based on whether or not being married to Jack Atlas would advance her career?
She was despicable.
"Jack?" she asked, breaking the silence between them.
"Hm?" he muttered, the sound being an indication that he was listening and nothing more.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
She paused for a moment. Did she really want to say this? Swallowing her spit, she said, "A few weeks ago, I had a dream. I think it was of the past."
"You think?"
She nodded, not caring that he couldn't see at this point. "Yeah. I… I was trying to kill you."
He was silent, absorbing her words before carefully replying, "What happened?"
"We were dueling in a Shadow Duel. A turbo duel. I don't even know how to ride a runner."
"I recall," he said, referring to the time he'd taken her for a ride on his. She couldn't help that he was going too fast and scared her to death.
"You were trying to avoid killing me, trying to talk me to my senses. You never gave up, even going as far as trying to die alongside me."
He was quiet again, finally saying, "And?"
She knew he wasn't sure what to say and wanted her to keep talking, so she asked, "Did that really happen?"
"Mm," he hummed, offering only a slight sound of confirmation before saying, "It did."
Her chest tightened as she whispered, "You… would die for me?"
"I would," he said quickly, not wasting a second.
That alone meant more to her than any one thing in the world. Her career seemed so trivial in contrast to his words. She had the love of a superstar, but that didn't really matter so much. What mattered was that she had the love of a man who truly understood what chivalry was and wanted her to be by his side. She was a lucky woman, to have a man who loved her so much in her life. The fact that he was Jack Atlas was an added bonus.
"Jack?"
"Yes?"
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting a smile cross her lips as she said, "I'll marry you."
When he spoke next, his voice carried a tone of surprise. "You will?"
"Uh-huh," she murmured. "With all the happiness in the world."
"Carly…" He paused, as if unsure of what to say, then asked, "Where are you?"
She wasn't really sure where this would go, but answered honestly, "In my apartment."
"In Rome?"
"That's the only apartment I have, Jack."
"I'll be there by morning."
"Huh?" she asked, completely blindsided by his comment. "What do you-?"
"I love you, Carly," he said, then the phone line went dead.
She blinked, staring at the phone in her hand blankly. What just happened? From what she could tell, she was now engaged to Jack Atlas. Sighing, she leaned back in her chair and smiled like a dork, touching her fingers to her lips slyly.
Carly Atlas. It had a nice ring to it.
So, there you are. Jack/Carly fluff overload and a peek into my headcanon. I hope you like it!
Please review!
-Valk