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."
