Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, this setting, or this inanely Japanese manly aesthetic.

Notes: Written for the "1sentence" challenge on LiveJournal, wherein you write one sentence per prompt for a list of 50 prompts, oftentimes to give a full picture of a pairing instead of just a single anecdote.


#01 – Motion

Malik's getting dressed when he receives a fist to the stomach and the judgment: "Your reflexes suck – can't be helped, gotta teach you to fight."

#02 – Cool

"An' then I renamed it 'Jounouchi Fire'!" he brags, chest puffed out, and Malik is almost glad his soul was suppressed for that duel.

#03 – Young

We're still children, thinks Malik, staring at Jounouchi's uniform and feeling oddly small.

#04 – Last

No one will have these scars after me, Malik realizes as Jounouchi runs his fingers over them; for a moment, he feels unique again.

#05 – Wrong

Malik's well aware stopping just short of your opponent demonstrates greater control, but "control" and "Jounouchi" have never really mixed.

#06 – Gentle

"Put your heart into it!" he hears Jounouchi yelling, and then a foot's underneath his ankle, his fist's missing its target, and his back's bruising beneath the scars.

#07 – One

He'll never tell Malik, but Jounouchi remembers the rage when his own frustration and his 'master's' had been united, twisted, turned; he'll especially never tell Malik that pain never really stopped.

#08 – Thousand

Jounouchi couldn't care less how long Malik's family had been imprisoned in that tomb; half a childhood, in his opinion, would be more than enough to drive anyone up into the sun.

#09 – King

Jounouchi brags about his Battle City placement to anyone who'll listen and even some who won't; Malik keeps his head down and his lips full only of praises for the winner.

#10 – Learn

Things I Learned Today, by Malik Ishtar: take pinky ring off before you punch.

#11 – Blur

To each their own illegalities: Jounouchi cuts class and Malik doesn't believe in the speed limit.

#12 – Wait

Malik never punches first (he stares Jounouchi down until the other boy snaps, which is just how Malik likes it).

#13 – Change

"This is for what you did to Mai!" shouts Jounouchi – then mutters, offering an icepack after the blow, "and this is for taking it back."

#14 – Command

I should have used this, muses Malik as Jounouchi defends Shizuka, fueled by his love, not my hatred, he might never have escaped.

#15 – Hold

"Uh, Malik, glad you're happy an' all, man, but you banged me up pretty bad yesterday an' I still got to breathe..."

#16 – Need

Malik doesn't hear the protests; someone believes in him, someone's teaching him to be strong on his own – and besides, now that Jounouchi's guard is down, he can try that throw they've been practicing.

#17 – Vision

Sometimes Shizuka tags along when they wander the city, and then Jounouchi has two siblings to whom he shows the world.

#18 – Attention

The first few times he went out with Malik, Jounouchi thought the girls' heads all turned because they recognized him.

#19 – Soul

"This is a man's fight," says Jounouchi while Malik jabs at a mannequin, patched up for now; "you feel the enemy's heart an' pain when you land the hits yourself."

#20 – Picture

Shizuka giggles when Malik's fascinated by the photo of Jounouchi in her wallet - "he's six there!" - not knowing Malik first saw his own reflection only five years prior.

#21 – Fool

Strategy, to Malik, is like water; Jounouchi is like fire, which explains his dueling style.

#22 – Mad

The first time he almost enjoys the pain, Malik has to go retch in a sink; Jounouchi's there to catch him, though, to call him a sissy and to get him standing again – because that's over and never coming back.

#23 – Child

Malik has never seen a tape like this one Jounouchi's lent him before.

#24 – Now

"You beat me again," shrugs Malik, switching off his duel disk, but Jounouchi replies: "At least you're playin' like a duelist now."

#25 – Shadow

Once he'd learned the Ishtars' history, he'd stopped finding Rishid intimidating – until Jounouchi brings Malik home after curfew.

#26 – Goodbye

Malik tends to end phone calls rather abruptly, leaving Jounouchi screaming "Bye to you too, ya bastard!" to an empty line.

#27 – Hide

Malik helps Jounouchi improve in his own way, too: by tricking him at every opportunity – yet he never forgets whose will is stronger.

#28 – Fortune

"So you, uh, still got any of that Ghouls money?" Jounouchi asks one day, feigning casualty, and Malik provides some excuse that won't imply "living on sister's allowance".

#29 – Safe

The best part of sparring comes after, when they're patching each other up and Malik can lean on Jounouchi, just a little bit more every day.

#30 – Ghost

Jounouchi's father swings, but Malik intercepts the blow; never again, he vows, will a son be struck on my watch.

#31 – Book

"You speak how many languages?" asks Jounouchi, who struggles with kanji; Malik tells him "shut up" in five different tongues, two of which are extinct.

#32 – Eye

Malik remembers watching himself through Jounouchi's eyes, which helps when deciding how to dress.

#33 – Never

They don't have Burger World in Egypt – clearly, Jounouchi has quite a lot of catching up to arrange.

#34 – Sing

Karaoke night lasts one song apiece; declaring "dreadful" and "you suck", they rent a movie instead.

#35 – Sudden

Jounouchi realizes halfway through the kiss that Malik still plays dirty, but by then he's also halfway to the ground.

#36 – Stop

Malik leers over Jounouchi, bending his arm backwards; Jounouchi slaps the floor with his free hand, and Malik picks the kiss right back up where they'd left it.

#37 – Time

"Yugi gave me this card," brags Jounouchi, handing it over; Malik just smirks, thinking how important it'd been that he give a card away.

#38 – Wash

Basket in hand, Malik's kicked out of Jounouchi's room: "I barely do mine! Do your own frickin' laundry!"

#39 – Torn

"There are ways of understanding without violence," says Isis, conflicted; but when she sees the passion simmering beneath Malik's black eye she can't help but admire the spark his new 'friend' has lit.

#40 – History

"It's a club," decides Jounouchi, "the 'Messed Up Till We Met Yugi Club'"; "'until'?" asks Malik, and is quick enough now to block.

#41 – Power

"You want to know what power is?" Malik asks cryptically; Jounouchi nods, distracted by the way Malik's shifted in his chair, then gets flicked on the nose with a silk-and-leather smirk: "That, right there."

#42 – Bother

"Jounouchi is a dog," Malik insists, "loyal and steadfast"; oi, grumbles Jounouchi, whose side are you on?

#43 – God

Malik always did have a weakness for gods of light and flame.

#44 – Wall

For someone who likes to watch his opponents crumble, sparring Jounouchi couldn't be more frustrating: he takes hit after hit without complaint, until Malik can barely see for envy.

#45 – Naked

"It's kinda like... ancient Egyptian yakuza or somethin'," Jounouchi pronounces, and Malik decides next time he'll keep his shirt on.

#46 – Drive

"You're dumber than Honda," shouts Jounouchi, "at least he wears a helmet!"

#47 – Harm

"So you got hit," shrugs Jounouchi as he looms over Malik, then offers him a hand: "Important thing's to get right on back up."

#48 – Precious

First Mai, then Malik, Anzu observes, proposing Jounouchi has a 'type'; who's next, Kaiba?; meanwhile, Malik plots a company's downfall.

#49 – Hunger

"I don't eat meat," Malik admits, and blinks when Jounouchi's moved to tears.

#50 – Believe

"Could ya feel it this time?" asks Jounouchi, nursing a bruised rib; "yeah," pants Malik around a swollen cheek, exhilarated, "and it was fun."