One Step At a Time

by x0Francisco0x

Just when things start to come around, tragedy strikes and Yusei is left an orphan in an increasingly chaotic world. Armed with only his wits and a guitar, Yusei and his friends must struggle to keep their bonds intact as life hits them head first and an unexpected revelation threatens to destroy the group from within. Musician themes, Yusei x Jack.

1. Bad Boy

I think I was listening to Black Veil Brides when I thought of this, although I could be mistaken. I guess this story stems from my own desire to become a musician one day. I took piano lessons during my freshman year of high school and relatively enjoyed it for the first few months, but my interest was quickly squashed when my new instructor came in and was very determined to whip me into an A class pianist that would be performing concerts across Europe. I quit shortly thereafter, and I can't say that I've regretted it in the slightest.

Most of my musical experience comes from chorus, where I learned that I can mimic other singers' voices well enough to make everything think I was a cheating scum bag who was just lip-synching during the talent show. This idea was also quickly squashed when they considered that my singing partner at the time was an aspiring opera singer and didn't need to lip-synch anything, and that it would have been impossible to have a duet karaoke that didn't play her parts but played mine. I was a mild-mannered person at the time, so it felt strange telling people to suck it when I was normally so polite. XD

Now that time has passed, I've decided to give music another go, and thought it best to start slow by taking computer music classes. (Garageband, I love you…) So if my terminology is off, I don't mean to offend any legit musicians. I am learning, but so much of this is self-taught that I'm not getting everything.

I just got a black Dreadnaught acoustic guitar that I've named Black Beauty, and hope to start learning in a few weeks since my guitar is currently residing at someone else's house (long story). If I still have the strength to write this story by then, then perhaps my skills in describing this tale will increase. :) Until then, bear with me!

Track One: Bad Boy

"Be my bad boy, be my man. Be my weekend lover, but don't be my friend. You can be my bad boy, but understand that I don't need you in my life again."

~ Cascada

.o.

Ever since he had seen the blonde teenager pantomiming finger placement on a guitar, removing him from Yusei Fudo's side had become a legendary task suitable only for the bravest of souls to attempt—a quest that a lowly squire might attempt in order to achieve knighthood and win the fair maiden's hand in marriage. Luckily for Yusei, he did not especially mind Jack's company. It just utterly perplexed him sometimes.

And because Yusei did not mind Jack's company, Jack had more or less made himself quite at home in the Fudo residence. It was not that the lanky teen had no home to return to, or lived with abusive guardians who would flog him day in and day out per say (in fact, his guardian worked with Yusei's father)—he just really preferred their house. And once again, luckily for Yusei, his father, Professor Hakase Fudo, did not mind the blonde's constant mooching for dinner. Jack was not the first growing teenager to invade their house and raid their refrigerator when everyone's back was turned, and one late evening Hakase admitted that Jack likely would not be the last, either. Like or not, Yusei tended to draw in characters that had loyalty streak in them somewhere, and had no small amount of good people to call his friends.

(He also said that he and Jack would likely spend the rest of their lives together, but to that Yusei just rolled his eyes and turned up the volume on his iPod, drowning out the well-meant but undesired comment.)

So with that said, Yusei's friends were allowed habitation in the Fudo house as long as their parents did not mind and they remembered to take their shoes off at the door. The shoes were important, because they told Yusei who was in and who was out whenever he returned home from his afterschool job at the Poppo Time garage. His dad had tried to gauge who was home based on the instruments lying about, but the others were starting to just leave their things there in favor of lugging to it home or around school. They had keys, after all. Hakase had joked "who doesn't have a key to our house" once. It was understandable.

That particular day it was only him and Jack at the house, Yusei's welcome-home prefaced with his tripping over Jack's boots. The damned things were ridiculously tall, glowing a clean silvery-white in the light of the afternoon through the window. Yeah, while Jack got the message to take off his shoes, he had yet to understand that that meant actually moving them against the wall so no one—like Yusei, for example—tripped over them and fell to his untimely death.

No one rushed to see if Yusei was all right either, but that was not all that surprising. Jack was an ass to nth degree.

After picking himself up off the floor the dark haired teen kicked off his own, shorter boots (nudging them and Jack's shoes against the wall with his foot) and cleared the entry hallway and deposited his book bag on the coffee table in the living room, the common room for the boys. Occasionally it was used to eat and hosted many a video game night over the years, and had seen a few make-out sessions that always had to be cut short because there was always someone walking around. Mostly, though, it was for group homework sessions. Okay, for Yusei to do his homework in. Crow almost never bothered and half the time Jack and Kalin were doing stupid shit to each other to see who flipped their lid first. Ninety-percent of the time, it was Jack.

Huge shocker there, Yusei drawled to himself as he wandered into the kitchen. An empty plate already sat on the counter, dusted with crumbs from something, and a few drops of soda lay sprinkled about it. Laying the plate in the sink and retrieving an apple from the basket on the counter, Yusei double-stepped the stairs up to the second floor, following the sound of L'Arc-en-ciel to his room at the end of the hall. Jack was lying on the floor for the most part, but his feet and calves rested on Yusei's bed while he held up his iPhone with two hands, tapping the screen feverishly. Usually he was naked and out cold on Yusei's bed with his clothes lying carelessly on the floor, so the change of pace was interesting. Yusei was able to slam the door shut with his foot without Jack noticing at all, and to make the shock all the more extreme he threw his apple at Jack at the same time as he killed the music.

"—the fuck?!" Jack loudly cussed as the apple connected with his cheek and threw his concentration. He spluttered as he shook his head before looking up at Yusei. The dark teen regarded him with an empty stare, something he knew Jack absolutely despised. The blonde settled back on the floor, peeved. "What's your problem?" he asked, although Jack knew well enough by now that if Yusei was irritated, it was likely at him.

"Pick up your shit," Yusei said as he kicked Jack's purple book bag to the side so he could pull out his desk chair. Guitar picks and paper hornets spilled out onto the floor as a result, but neither teen made a move to pick them up. Yusei turned his back to the taller boy and opened up the Internet to check his email. Behind him, Jack scoffed loudly.

"Why? You always put my things away before I can put them away myself."

Yusei scrolled through his messages. "That's not an excuse," he shot back, although half-heartedly due to his divided attention. He could feel Jack rolling his eyes at him. "I'm not your mother."

"I don't have a mother."

"My point exactly—and we know for a fact that I'm not her."

"That doesn't make any sense."

Yusei sent Jack a dubious look. "Because you can tell when things make sense?"

Click, click, click, went his touchscreen. "More so than a certain guy always daydreaming about my ass in English class."

Now it was Yusei's turn to scoff. "Yeah, you keep thinking that, Jack."

"Don't mind if I do," he said smoothly, eyes locked on the tiny screen in front of him once again. Yusei resisted the urge to fling something else at the guitarist and returned to scrolling through the pile-up of emails sent to him. Most of them he trashed, the messages containing nothing but ridiculous invitations to colleges across the country—and something from Victoria's Secrets. Jack. Yusei was still a sophomore, barely ready to begin thinking about college, but his father had insisted on contacting all the top academies he could think of for updates about the activities of the school. Yusei even got some foreign invites, ranging from schools in England and Austria to distant America. It was nice of them to "remember him" and all, but there was only so much planning for the future that he could do before his brain fizzled and shut down. Sorry, Carnegie Mellon, but not today. Delete.

Yusei loved music. He loved listening to songs and trying to break them down, note by note. He loved working on covers and adding his own twist to them. He loved staying up all hours of the night with the others, all of them sprawled out across the basement half asleep and still trying to create that perfect rhythm that might pull a song together and make it something. He loved it. Loved it all. He lost all care for the world around him when he was strumming by himself on the balcony, the sun barely breaking the horizon and his corner of town still sleepy.

So…what college could further that?

Not having anything of interest left to answer, Yusei closed the Internet and prepared to shut his laptop when a loud crunching noise suddenly shot across the room, and his gaze snapped over to his lounging houseguest. Who was eating an apple. His apple.

"Don't you take another bite," Yusei growled in warning when the blonde prepared to take another large chunk of red apple. Jack had only taken a single bite from the fruit, but like everything else on him, his mouth was so freaking huge that it seemed like he had taken five.

Jack showed his friend the chewed contents in his mouth. "You want it back?"

Yusei eyed the mushy contents with a disdainful glare. Really, was it necessary to be disgusting? Do not get him wrong—he loved pedaling through the mud and roughhousing as much as the next teenage boy, but since when did the definition of male human become "animal"? "That's fucking gross."

"Girl."

"You're a pig."

"You're anal retentive."

"Not nearly as much as you."

Jack returned to whatever was so engaging on his phone, but still took the time to appreciate Yusei's generous hospitality by attempting to trip him by grabbing his ankle when he wandered too close, nearly sending the dark teen sprawling to the floor. Once Yusei freed himself of the pale teen's grasp he snatched up the remaining apple from the bear trap that had become Jack's teeth and threw himself on his bed to chew and stare at the asshole he had stupidly come to call his friend.

"You're a douche," Yusei said plainly.

"I love you, too," Jack replied vaguely. Click click click.

"You love ramen."

"I can do two things at once."

"Bullcrap. You're too stupid to use that many brain cells at once."

Jack kicked him, although the momentum was lost with him lying on the floor at the same time.

He had known about the blonde's existence before befriending him, having had classes with him since the eighth grade. At first they had only shared homeroom and study hall back in middle school, not even acknowledging the other's presence like many kids often did. Jack Atlas was a name and face he recognized, nothing more, and Jack had appropriately felt the same. They stuck to different crowds, had different after school hobbies—not once had they bothered to make contact. But once they hit high school the windows of chance had opened up more, and the two found themselves colliding more often than not. And he did mean colliding. The two of them had a reputation for getting bloody noses whenever they were in the vicinity of each other.

Their first semester as freshman had been spent in gym class, where Jack's freakish height came to be a great advantage amongst his classmates, many of whom had either stopped growing or had yet to start. On the flip side, Yusei had become fast from years spent playing soccer, and the two were fairly matched when it came to athletics. They competed with each other, like most boys liked to do at that age, and focused most of their energy on besting the other in class. Jack had still been an ass even back then, and gloated for all he could whenever he defeated Yusei. Occasionally, if the beating Yusei had received had been especially defeating, Jack's antagonizing would extend outside the class room. (Cue bloody noses). It took some trial and error, but one day Yusei had managed to get the drop on Jack in class, silencing the boy and his taunting. After Jack's harrowing defeat, it seemed a switch had been thrown in the blonde boy, and he lessened his teasing. Lessened, mind you. Jack Atlas never stopped gloating once he had an understanding of who he was better than. Or, at least people he assumed he was better than. Old habits were hard to break.

Outside of gym class, though, Jack was different. Competing in an environment where open friendly competition was encouraged did wonders for his disposition, but remove him from such an environment and he became a changed person. Smart though he was, competing academically in the classroom just about shut him down. It was the atmosphere, Jack had once told him. It was too still and small. He liked momentum—he liked the sky. Yusei had honestly not noticed his disposition until he ventured upon Jack by himself one day, teen's usual crowd of followers dispersed due to it being the middle of class. It was not sorrow that had marked his eyes, but even Yusei was able to see that something was off in the way he had been standing against the lockers. Like something was stuck and he was about die.

The two of them had stared at each other, as Yusei had come to halt in front of the blonde to gawk. Initially Yusei had thought that Jack had been trying to challenge him, the look in his eyes was so aggressive and haunting. But as he stepped closer and the lilac eyes came into light Yusei realized that Jack was pleading for help.

A step forward and a touch was all that it took.

Fifteen sweaty minutes later they both came at each other's hand and collapsed against the brick wall out behind the school from exhaustion. All his teenage life Yusei had heard stories of boys coming at a single touch, and the fact that he and Jack took longer than most had struck him as interesting even when it was not important.

The air had been chilled with the coming winter and two had quickly tucked themselves back into their pants before Jack closed the distance between them again, opening his jacket up so that he could wrap up Yusei as well. Lips bruised from harsh kissing soon became chapped in the cold wind, and red faces remained pink thanks to the chill. It was only then that Yusei saw the difference in Jack's eyes, his gaze having gone from dying light to a full on blaze. The two sat there shivering until the bell rang for lunch, fingers entwined in a tight grasp of mutual reassurance that things would never go back to the way they were.

That was when everyone started to remark how changed Yusei looked, his father included, but who made him truly notice it was Jack, who one day sat next to him during lunch without warning. Yusei's friends stared at the two in disbelief when Jack did not start a fight and Yusei did not tell him off, and not once had he ever felt like they deserved an explanation. Jack's presence was on and off for a few weeks, his arrival and departure wordless, but the turning point came when Yusei caught him leaning against the lockers again, strumming the air to some unheard music. Without thinking Yusei had named the song, having played it himself on his old acoustic, and since then had yet to spend a day apart from Jack.

We make each other stand taller.

"What're you doing?" Yusei demanded to know after a moment of watching. Jack could not deign to look at him.

"What?" he muttered distractedly.

"Your damn phone. You playing something?"

"No."

"Then what're you doing?"

Jack laid the phone down on his chest, screen out of sight. "I told you."

"No, you didn't. You just stole my apple and bitched about me telling you to clean up."

The blonde shoved his foot in the direction of Yusei's face when he sat up, eyes glued to the screen again. "I'm just checking a text."

"For half an hour?"

Jack fell for the ruse, head snapping to look at the clock near the door. "Shit, has it been that long?"

Tan fingers deftly snatched up Jack's phone, but the blonde noticed the missing weight of the phone almost immediately. Yusei was barely able to retreat with the phone, Jack's hands suddenly grabbing for his smaller friend anywhere they could find purchase in the vain hopes of getting his phone back. Yusei shoved the blonde away when he crawled onto the bed with him, but with the pale teen's added height came extra weight, and he easily squished Yusei into his mattress. What the taller boy did not count on was Yusei actually dropping the phone in front of him before reaching back to tickle Jack's sides and succeeding in getting his friend to literally wiggle-worm himself off Yusei's smaller body. The threat of Jack gone momentarily, Yusei flipped over the phone and saw what had Jack so enthralled.

Not that Jack sensed his defeat with all that testosterone clouding his noggin. The minute his regained his breath he flopped back on to Yusei with extra vigor, only to notice that Yusei had extended his arm out over the floor to keep the phone out of reach, and was trying not to laugh too loudly.

Yusei barely noticed the painful thump of Jack's forehead against the back of his own skull as he sagged in defeat. "Not a word to anyone," Jack growled, although the threat was muffled in Yusei's raven hair.

"I can't believe you let Crow get you addicted to Angry Birds."

"Think of it less of an addiction and more as vengeance for getting him hooked on Temple Run."

"I dunno—I can sympathize with Crow. Angry Birds at least has some physics applied to it—Temple Run is just stupid."

Jack tsked. "So uncultured," he sighed, snatching the phone out of Yusei's hand and rolling onto his side, dragging his friend with him to lie along his front. Since Jack kept his phone hand out on the bed in front of him, Yusei got front row seats to his friend's game time. Not that he really cared to be. He was tired, and it did not help that he was lying down while being forced to watch an incredibly boring game. He glanced longingly at Jack's soda, but it was likely empty knowing the blonde. The guy drank like a horse. A huge, fucking horse, like the ones with lots of hair around their feet and their bangs constantly in their eyes.

Yusei sighed, "I don't care if you wanna play in here, Jack, but I gotta finish some things before Dad gets home."

"Uh-huh," answered his friend, not paying attention at all. Yusei groaned and moved to shove Jack's arms away, but the taller one clung to him even tighter and rolled forward so that Yusei would be trapped between him and the mattress—all the while playing the damn game!

"You can't muster the brainpower to do your school work but you can focus enough to play a game and wrestle me at the same time?"

Click click click. A red bird exploded on screen. "When they find a way to make math into a sport I'll do a good job. Until then, the world is just going to have to suck it and deal."

Click click click. "Get off, asshole."

"Nope." Jack's free hand slid up his friend's shirt and felt the hard muscles beneath the tan skin, lazily drawing circles around the curved muscles. His lips, soft and pliable like Yusei remembered, latched on to the side of his neck and gently sucked, nearly eliciting a whining moan from him. Damn him, he always knows the right—

Yusei hissed. "Jack…"

Jack only hmmed in response, fingers teasing a nipple beneath his shirt but not going so far as to create physically noticeable arousal. Yusei decided to clench his teeth together and not give the larger teen the satisfaction, but like a harp Jack played him all too well, and abandoned his chest to massage the inside of Yusei's thigh. That created reaction, all right.

I suppose we have some time—

Click click click.

The dark teen stopped when he heard the sound, eyes wide in irritation. Oh, no, you fucking don't.

Yusei flipped his head back and smacked Jack's jaw, the blonde's teeth clacking loudly together. "Let go."

"What?"

"Now, Jack."

The growl in Jack's throat could be felt reverberating down Yusei's spine. "Fine..."

"Damn right it's fine."

The blonde released Yusei and he rolled himself out of Jack's hold, ignoring the lingering touch of fingers along his sides. Jack had the gall to give him the sad, puppy-eyed expression that adorned many dating girls' faces when faced with not getting their way, but unlike the boyfriends forced to concede, Yusei did not have to submit. "If you're going to try that shit, at least have the decency to not be staring at your phone at the same time."

Jack gave him his signature eye roll. "You didn't say I couldn't play on my phone at the same time."

"Well, now you can't."

"What are you, a woman?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"I'm not romancing you like we're in some chick flick, Yusei."

Says the guy who likes to walk along the beach while holding hands. And have romantic dinners. And sit inside a hot tub with candles everywhere… "Please. You're a bigger hopeless romantic than most of "chicks" we go to school with."

The dark teen got about five steps before a syrupy, "I loooove you, Yusei," stopped him in his tracks and made him double take at the tall blonde lying on his back with his hands over his heart like he was struck by one of Cupid's arrows. For good measure, Jack batted his ridiculously long eyelashes. In his normal voice he said, "You know you want it," winking sly and grinning mischievously.

"Fuck you, dude."

Jack dropped his hands to the bed, his expression replaced with one of annoyance. "That's kinda difficult with you playing hard-to-get all the time."

"I'll stop feeding you if you want."

.o.

Despite Yusei slamming the door shut in his face, Jack still trailed down the hallway after him, albeit much more slowly. He did not look back to see if Jack was all right, instead making his way back downstairs and into the kitchen, where he set the oven to preheat and washed his hands at the sink. Jack was moving about in the other room, although at the moment it sounded like he was shuffling papers around.

Yusei was not mad. He was just…irritable. He had gotten held up at work thanks to a ridiculous customer who could not make up his mind for the life of him, and he had to stay after school with other classmates to finish a test due to someone having pulled the fire alarm as a prank and cutting almost half an hour into class time. Crow had also picked a fight with a couple guys larger than him over something stupid, and Yusei nearly lost some teeth trying to help defend him. And Kalin thought it would be funny to set fire to a trash can and almost caused an uncontrollable fire. And Jack had gotten detention, so he and Yusei could not work on their physics project during study hall, and it was due in two days. And his old acoustic finally died on him and lost three strings in one sitting…

And Jack thinks we have the time right now to have our first go at each other…

Overall, it had not turned out to be the best day of days, although he would not complain much, since there had been worse. Kalin and Crow shop lifting from the music store…Jack jumping out the window and wrenching his ankle…Dad nearly blowing himself up at work… It was just really tiring having such obnoxious people for friends, sometimes. And a father who enjoyed the hell out of experimenting.

And it wasn't that he didn't want to have sex with Jack—he did—but he had been smart enough to read stuff online about that sort of thing, and knew that no good would come of trying to do it quickly for fear of someone walking in and spoiling the moment. Especially Kalin…God, it'd tear him apart if he walked in on us…

Pale arms wound around his waist and a familiar chin rested on his head, chest heaving with a sigh. Yusei did not look back, waiting for Jack to speak first. The silence resumed for a few minutes, Jack quiet except for the occasional sigh and Yusei noiselessly chopping the beef he had defrosted in the fridge earlier that day. At first the dark teen thought that Jack might just cling to him the entire time, which was unusual even by Jack's standards, but blessedly the blonde teen resumed his normal habits and picked his head up.

"Which rooms?" he sighed in defeat, voice purposefully little. He was likely making faces at his friend if history taught the shorter teen anything

Yusei tried not to sound like he was smiling as he spoke, gesturing around him with the knife. "Foyer, dining room, and the living room."

"Fine," he huffed, quietly stalking out of the kitchen. Yusei fought his hardest to keep his ridiculous grin down as Jack stomped about the house searching for the vacuum, and nearly exposed himself when Jack came back in. "Where's the vacuum, Yusei?"

"I dunno," Yusei snickered. He'd taken care to hide it well, that time. Jack heard it in his voice, and made a snarly face at him in mild frustration. "Where'd you last leave it?"

"Why do I get the feeling that I clean your house more often than you guys do?"

Yusei just chuckled evilly, resuming his slicing of the beef. "Be happy we don't charge you rent, too."

"You suck, Yusei."

"I suck nothing."

As Jack strode past again, Yusei tapped his ass with the flat of the blade, eking a less than masculine sound out of him. "Hop to it."

Jack hurriedly wiped the back of his pants. "Did that have raw meat on it?"

"Deal with it," Yusei commanded, tossing the knife in the sink and digging a large pot out from the cabinet. Jack continued to make disgusted sounds before scurrying away.

"That's fucking gross, Yusei!" he called.

"You're a good one to talk!" the dark teen called back.

As Yusei continued preparing the stew, the sound of Jack angrily storming through the house trying to find the vacuum became white noise for the house. He had stashed it in the basement behind their equipment, a place he knew Jack would not think to look for it in. Time had taught him that Jack was more manageable if he was slightly worn out, although his crankiness was more extreme thereafter, too. Thus, food was always in order so that he would sit down and shut his goddamn mouth. Of course, the downside to it was that Jack frequently got horny when he was frustrated, but less out of anger and more out of pure passion to not be stumped by Yusei. Again.

(Yes, Jack got horny while thinking about competing with Yusei. Winning was not important—Jack could win or lose, and he would still develop a raging boner. It was only if Yusei severely denied him even a few minutes to jerk him off that he would settle down.)

If Yusei successfully hid the vacuum from him, then Jack's obnoxious, horse-sized boner would give it a rest, Yusei would get the vacuum for his friend, and Jack would be silent for the rest of the night. It was starting to become rare that the blonde found the vacuum, Yusei having learned how to stay two steps ahead of him, now. A while back Jack demanded that he be rewarded if he found the damn thing because of the rarity of his finds, and Yusei conceded to the arrangement without a fuss. If Jack could never find the vacuum, what did he have to lose? Considering the odds, it had been a safe bet. The rules were that if Jack found the vacuum in under three minutes, he could shower with Yusei that night.

They had shared all of four showers in a three month period. And Jack was at the house almost every day.

Sucker.

"What's my time?" the blonde called from somewhere in the bowels of the house.

Yusei checked the wall clock. "One minute left."

"Fuck!" Thump thump thump thump thump.

The dark teen sighed and set the stove on high to boil the water, washing his hands thereafter before he started to touch the vegetables. As he prepared to dice, a phone rang somewhere in the house. Adjusting the temperature on the stove so the water did not boil over while he was away, Yusei wandered into the hall and towards the dining room where he left the phone of the table. A blonde blur whooshed past in the hall as he entered the room, and Yusei tried not to laugh at his friend's plight.

Well, I can't say it's much of a plight. He hit the green button on the phone and walked back to the kitchen. "Fudo residence."

"Yusei," greeted his father's voice.

"Hey, Dad," his son answered. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to let you know that I've stepped out and I'm on my way home. The crowds aren't looking bad tonight, so it should be about twenty minutes."

"Okay. I'd hurry, though. I'm making a stew pot, and the water's already set."

The baritone voice of his father chuckled good-naturedly. "You mean Jack will eat all of it if I'm not there soon?"

"Something like that."

"What were you two up to, today?"

"Not much. I got held up at work and school, so I got home late—"

"Found it!"

Yusei cringed at the sound even though it was not loud. Glancing at the clock, he saw that Jack had five seconds left. Ugh, I could've sworn I hid that better…

"Yusei?"

The teen sighed and addressed his father. "Sorry 'bout that. Jack was saying something."

"He found the vacuum?"

"Yep…"

Hakase was likely smiling on his end of the phone. Never mind that he saw Jack as his own son, he still found their relationship amusing as hell. "Where'd you hide it?"

"Behind the drums."

"And he actually found it?"

"I'm just as surprised as you."

Hakase laughed. "Well, the sooner it was found, the sooner cleaning would get done. I'll talk to you when I get back."

Yusei nodded to himself. "Later."

As he hung up Jack came back into the kitchen, vacuum clutched tightly in one hand. His cheeks were pink from running. "You sorry son-of-a-bitch," he panted.

Yusei snorted. "You're right; I am sorry. I could've sworn you were too blind to find it."

"Whatever," Jack gasped as he continued to breathe. He was more athletic than most, but stairs always seemed to get him. Neither really got why, but Jack had casually accepted his "disability" for stairs a while ago, so he likely did not care that he looked ragged. "Foyer, dining room, living room?" he confirmed.

"Yeah," the dark teen sighed in admission, staring glumly at the vacuum. Seriously, how the hell did he find it?

"What's your problem?"

"I didn't hide the fucking vacuum well enough, that's my problem."

The blonde rolled his eyes and trudged back out of the room to finish his chores. "You know, I really don't see how me jacking you off in the shower is much of losing situation for you."

Yusei wheeled about face and leaned his head out the kitchen door to glare at Jack, who easily felt the burning on his back and glanced back without needing to be called. "Yeah, FYI: Dad's coming home early tonight, so whatever shenanigans you're planning, don't."

The taller one quirked his head and smirked. "You mean like making you moan?"

Fire lit Yusei's skin and he burnt holes through Jack's empty skull with his eyes, staring him down with more rage than the old spirits. "Be-have," he ground out carefully.

"Oh, come on, Yusei. Your dad's cool with us anyways—"

"Foyer, dining room, living room, hallway. Now."

"Aw man…"

"Now, Jack!"

.o.

Hakase hummed to himself as he cleaned up the kitchen, wiping down the counters with a practiced hand and artfully arranging the used pots and plates in the dishwasher. As he picked up the dishes Yusei pulled out a new sheet of notebook paper, continuing his work on the new sheet. He had passed the algebra exams with beyond flying colors as a freshman, and after completing his math analysis class, he had been granted the permission to finally step up to calculus. The others, all taking simple geometry, had balked at the idea of studying with Yusei once they found out just how advanced some of the classes he was taking were.

You know, until they realized that Yusei magically knew everything and found it simpler to bug him for the answers.

A glance at the clock only served to mock him, the hands already farther ahead than he previously thought and the seconds ticking down loudly like they did on all the TV shows. Dinner had been at a decent time, but after Jack had finished he had run off again to the basement, and had yet to make an appearance. To stretch his legs Yusei would wander past and try to listen for any sounds, but nothing came from the eerily silent basement except the occasionally sound of the one creaky office chair Hakase had donated to them after it annoyed too many people at work.

And now it serves to annoy us.

He had contemplated marching down there and dragging Jack up the stairs by his ear, but the lack of sound from the basement worried him just a bit. Okay, he was not actually worried. He stopped worrying about the weird shit Jack got up to long ago. He was just fucking creeped out.

Sighing to himself for what could have conceivably been the millionth time that day, Yusei pulled his physics binder free of his messenger back and got to sorting through what needed to be done. It was only a preliminary project—the mathematics portion of what would later become a physical project that he and Jack would have to complete. From the looks of it, the worksheet seemed to be more about understanding how to find the answers they would later need to get in the actual project itself, the page listing off a number of scenarios with limited information about each one and the required answers. The sheet was front and back, and there were at least ten questions on each side that would all take serious contemplation to finish, and if history taught him anything about his teacher, some experimentation with the rules.

Applying physics and having an understanding of it was definitely cool, and Yusei loved being able to understand how the world around him worked, from cars on wet roads to dropping severely breakable items like eggs at great heights. (Hey, he's guy.) But like everything in life, this fun had to be counterbalanced with something of an opposing force. Yin did not exist without Yang, and it was starting to feel like one of those days where life was determined to demonstrate that philosophy.

I am so not letting Jack help with the fun part of the project…

"—is she hot?" came Jack's voice as he suddenly walked into the room, cellphone to his ear. Yusei almost jumped and shot a glare in his direction, but the blonde completely missed it. What the hell is with this guy? Seriously, they had a project to finish and he was chatting on the phone? At least if he were doing something productive…

"Does the phrase "physics project" mean anything to you?"

"Shut up for second," Jack shot back as he shoved Yusei's head, settling on loveseat behind him with his legs on either side of him, the dark teen sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table. Yusei considered the consequences for stabbing Jack in the foot with a pencil, and found that he did not care about any of them. "Where'd the hell you meet her?"

"What? Did the lack of cell phone coverage finally get to you or something?"

Jack rolled his eyes and leaned forward onto Yusei's back, watching over his shoulder at what he was doing. Or something. Yusei was really starting to consider the foot stabbing, and it would be on Jack's bad foot, too… "You pick up girls in the weirdest places, dude," Jack said into the phone, right by Yusei's ear. Asshole…

"So," Yusei mumbled, "how were the cockroaches? They'd build their nest again?"

The blonde physically froze for a second in clearly panic-gripping fear, before leaning his head to look Yusei in the eye with a "You're joking, right?" face.

You better be afraid, bitch. Yusei shoved the teen back with his shoulder and Jack resumed sitting upright, although felt it necessary to leave his legs pinned tightly against the raven while long fingers absently stroked up and down between his shoulder blades. If it had not felt so nice, Yusei figured he would have had the strength to throw the hand off. Unfortunately, all he could picture for a moment was the sight of those fingers sliding up and down neck of Jack's electric guitar named Phoenix, pressing the strings on the fingerboard with all the skills of an experienced lover. Not the time! Quickly, he said, "Jack's playing Angry Birds…"

"Yusei," Jack groaned irritably. "What? No, you're not interrupting anything."

"Don't believe him," the dark teen called over his shoulder at the phone, uncaring of who was on the other end of the line. It was likely Crow, since Kalin had yet to date a girl for all the flirting he did. Girls liked bad boys like him and Jack, but they had yet to be appreciative of the new levels Kalin took to the term "bad". Jack's occasional disregard for the rules and douche-bag level confidence brought in a larger crowd than someone who liked to start out of control fires and then leave them for others to handle. And you'd think that as the bassist Kalin would get all the girls…

Jack shoved the back of Yusei's head again in response as he continued to waste time, fingers sliding down through his raven hair and onto the nape of his neck where they massaged the muscles. It hurt for second, and then Yusei realized it was because he was so tense. "That was just Yusei."

And guess what Yusei wants to know? He wants to know why you're the one giving Crow talks about dating girls. It would not have been the first time.

Pale fingers continued to knead at his shoulder, distractingly painful but welcome enough that Yusei took a deep breath and paused from his work to let Jack try and coax the knots out of his muscles. The longer the massaging went on Yusei started to grasp that Jack was likely buttering him up so he would not be so upset about the physics thing. The funny thing with Jack was that you could never tell when he was listening to what you were saying. "You're an asshole," the dark teen drawled, leaning back against Jack's legs for a moment.

Jack laughed at the reaction. "What? Sorry, Yusei was complaining again. No, no, he's fine. He just gets cranky when he forgets to take his estrogen pills. I'm kidding—I'm kidding!" The blonde barely managed to hold onto his phone as Yusei started to beat him with a seat cushion, forgoing the pillows altogether. It was not difficult to channel any and all irritation he had into his hits, massage or not.

"Fuck you!' The moment he stopped he stopped his assault he launched himself across Jack and snatched the phone from his hand, fervently exclaiming, "Jack likes Angry Birds!"

"Yusei!" Jack stole back his phone and promptly shoved Yusei down on the couch, crushing him once again with his body. He addressed his phone quickly. "Don't listen to him."

"Jack," Yusei gasped out, turning the best he could to glare up at the blonde. "What the hell do you know about dating girls?"

"What, seriously? That's what you're getting on my case about?"

"No, I wanna punch you for not helping me with our project! And answer my question."

"I know enough."

"You're as straight as a circle."

"And? Gay men have proven to be exceptional at making women happy. Emotionally, anyways."

"Yeah," Yusei snorted, "until they find out they're gay!"

"I'm only gay for you, so shut up," Jack growled, continuing to shove Yusei down on the couch while struggling at the same time to keep his hold on his phone and answer Crow. "I'm still here. Where're you meeting up with her?" A pause. "Nice!"

Yusei tried not to get couch fibers in his mouth as he spoke. "Don't you think that maybe Crow should talk to my dad, instead?"

"No, that was still Yusei. He won't freaking shut up." Another pause. "So what're you gonna do afterwards?" A longer pause. "Really? Come on, dude. You got do more than that. A date's supposed to be fun."

"Jack," Yusei growled. He knew exactly where Jack's stream of consciousness was going, and if Crow followed anything the blonde said, he would royally screw himself over on this date. Unfortunately, he was refusing to see logic. "Jack! Most people aren't like us. You can't tell him to put moves on her on the first date!"

Jack squished him even harder, enough to the point that Yusei heard himself groan in pain. What the hell was his problem? You fucking asshole! The rat bastard was two seconds away from sleeping outside—

"Agh!" Someone pulled on Jack's ear, and his painful weight lifted off of Yusei's neck. "Crow? Sorry to interrupt. It's Hakase."

Somehow Yusei's father had managed to slip Jack's phone from his hand and was already walking away with it, Jack frozen in shock at the quick maneuver and not entirely sure how to react. Yusei did, though, and promptly bit the blonde's arm.

"Ow! Yusei!"

"That's for crushing my neck, asshole!"

"I didn't know!"

"How the hell could you not tell? You were practically sitting on it!"

"Then why didn't you say something?"

"Gee, I dunno, because I was groaning in pain at the time? What, do I need a fucking sign that says "Ow. I am in pain, Jack"?"

"I didn't hear you!"

"But you heard Crow ramble on about a girl?"

"Why does that bother you? For God's sake, you were the one encouraging him to get out more."

"I know what I said! And do you know what else I've said recently? We have a project!"

"Boys!"

Hakase was not a very loud man by nature, and whenever he shouted Yusei swore chills ran down his spine and goose bumps crawled across his skin. The times when Hakase got truly mad were equally rare, and by some saving grace this was not to be one of those moments in history that Yusei would regret. But he was visibly disappointed in both boys nonetheless, and held Jack's phone to his chest to cover the speaker. Hakase did not have to look between either teen to make sure they got the idea—like a hawk he stared them both down at once. "You two are almost adults. I'd think that you'd know by now not to start a screaming match at nine o'clock at night when the people on either side of us are trying to sleep."

Jack's gulp was more than visible, it was audible. Yusei spared a brief glance in his direction during the silence, and noticed the subtle curling of his fingers by his side while he looked to Hakase with guilt. The guy was an actor whether or not he would admit it, and rarely did the emotion in Jack's eyes reflect what he was actually feeling. Even now, in the face of disappointing a man he saw very much like a father, he did not demonstrate the same heart crushing fear he felt inside, given away by his nervous habit. It was yet another thing about Jack that Yusei had yet to understand, and figured he never would.

"Do not make me sort this out for you," Hakase warned softly before disappearing into the kitchen, that time sliding the door shut. Yusei would like to say that it was an empty threat, as his father had threatened before, but because he and his friends always worked out their problems, he never discovered what might happen if he did.

And a part of him never wanted to.

Jack regarded Yusei again, reaching out to touch his arm as he neared. "I'm sorry for hurting your neck—"

Yusei pulled away from the touch, irritability clawing at his nerves with a steel rake. "No, just—stop." Jack backed off instantly at the level voice, but to Yusei's secret relief did not twitch his fingers like he was playing piano against his thigh. "What were you doing?"

"What?"

"I said, what were you doing? Why the hell weren't you up here helping me?"

He did not look like he wanted to answer. "I was busy."

"Busy with what?" Jack opened his mouth to speak, but Yusei cut him off again, voice still level. "No, I don't want to hear it. Show me."

He did not wait for Jack to get his act together and brushed past without another word, stalking across the room and into the hallway until he reached the basement door. Jack trailed behind him slowly, like he had earlier, face oddly blank but for the nervous look in his eyes. Yusei threw the door open and stalked down the stairs in the dark, his muscle memory able to lead him about the room without the use of a light. When he reached the bottom he waited for Jack to finish descending the stairs before beginning to scan the black room, the blonde silently flipping the switch to the basement on and illuminating the sanctuary in a candle-dim light.

That was when Yusei saw it, the project Jack had been working while Yusei fumed upstairs. He found his heart stop briefly in surprise before a weight seemed to collapse on him completely and snuff out any remaining capacity for emotion, like a small candle in winter. Wordlessly, he stared at the equipment he and the others kept in the corner of the room, eyes zeroed in on his guitar stand.

Jack had fixed his guitar.

Gravity was determined to shove Yusei down onto his knees, or perhaps his legs were simply too weak to hold him up, but he fought the urge to collapse in a heap on the floor. Wordlessly the blonde approached him from behind and rested his chin on Yusei's head while his hands slid into the pockets on the front of the smaller teen's pants, like no strife had passed between either of them just a minute ago. Yusei stared at the fixed instrument, and like always his guitar stared back with its equally soulful gaze, much like it had when he first passed it outside a window for a thrift store. He had tried to walk away from it, he really had, but the old soul called him back to the window as easily as his father's voice called him down the stairs. Most guitars were pretty expensive, acoustic or not, and walking into the store Yusei remembered fear gripping his ten-year-old gut with a firm hand. The old lady at the counter told him the price, still way beyond what he had to pay for it. Had he been raised differently he might have tried to haggle for it, but he refused to pay less than full price for the guitar, regardless of its age. She accepted what money he had with him then and they worked out an arrangement for him to work at her shop until the guitar had been paid for in full.

His decision had shocked his father. Yusei had never looked so driven before, and Hakase admitted to be a bit worried by it at first. He offered to pay for the rest, if only to assuage the fire that had grown inside his little boy, but Yusei rejected the help and said only he would pay for it. Two months later he walked from the store, guitar in hand, to his waiting father outside. At first Hakase seemed nervous that the guitar would only grow out of control, but for the first time in his life Yusei felt a calm he had never experienced before, a sprinkling of snow on autumn grass that brought with it the cooling airs of sleeping winter. It's going to be okay, the nameless soul of his guitar whispered to the little boy. And Yusei believed it.

It was not long after that Hakase told him to go play whenever his child's temper got out of hand, a while later Yusei returning back upstairs to his father and apologizing for his outburst, and then the two of them going outside to kick a ball around or settling down for a board game. Years later his frosty white and silver guitar would no longer be lonely in the basement, waiting for Yusei to return home to keep it company, and would be joined by a whole pack of instruments. Jack's deep red acoustic with dark edges quickly became its mate, the fearsome color keeping guard over the softer white acoustic. Kalin and Crow's instruments came together not long after, and soon the basement became a haven for both the boys and their instruments.

After a month of the group trying to put together songs, Crow demanded that everything have a name, saying that the guitars and drums were as much a part of team as the owners. Jack's acoustic took the name Archfiend and his electric Phoenix, and Kalin's black and silver electric bass became Infernity. Crow had no guitar for a while, not interested in learning until he walked in on Yusei by himself one day (on his balcony with nothing on but a pair of blue jeans) and became decidedly smitten with the sound. He got himself a black acoustic, which he later had spruced up with some white wings on the front (courtesy of Kalin), and stickers on the back. The stickers had not been his idea, his foster siblings having stumbled upon the helpless thing and given it their stamp of approval. When Crow first found out, Yusei thought it would burst into tears because of what happened to it. And he did, but he so with pride, happy to have something to remember his foster siblings by. To a child with parents, it might have been annoying, but to a boy being bounced around to different families, it meant the world to him. Baby Black Wings joined the family soon, siblings to the drum set Black Swarm.

Yusei wanted to get an electric himself, but was saving up money from working at the Poppo Time garage until he could. His father did not offer again to pay for the instrument, knowing how much it meant to Yusei to earn the guitar himself. When Jack was gone he would get some time in with Phoenix to test the feel of using something sleeker and louder, but with Jack hovering over him almost every waking moment it was difficult to sneak off and use it. He often wished Kalin had a normal electric, as he would not mind Yusei using it while he was away. Jack claimed to be okay with such things, but this was a complete and total lie. He was like a shiba inu sometimes. Those dogs operated on the basis of: "What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine."

Taking a steadying breath, Yusei crept up to Stardust like he could not believe his old friend was sitting before him. Jack's arms fell free and he let his friend walk forward, lingering behind like a stranger intruding upon a private moment. With what he could only describe as an empty heart he picked up Stardust by the neck and held it close, examining the fresh strings in place of the broken ones. Yusei had never had to replace strings before, and was at a loss when they snapped. Jack had not mentioned his skills in repairing guitars ever, and like every other time Yusei learned something new about him, he was mildly (if not greatly) shocked.

Stardust practically burned his skin, as if sensing the loss of feeling in Yusei's stressed mind. Not now, Yusei, it seemed to say. Not now.

"I remembered you saying earlier that the strings had broken," Jack said quietly. "Paying someone to fix them isn't cheap, and I'm talking from experience. It's better to learn how to do it yourself." Probably feeling like what he said was an insult, he quickly added, "I'll teach you how to do it."

"I only told you this morning," Yusei mumbled, unable to draw any great breath at the moment as he set Stardust down. He actually listened… "Jack, we have a project to finish. Why'd you decide to work on it now of all times?"

Yusei held no ire in his voice, but Jack still sensed the underlying anger from before. Taking the heat like he knew he deserved it, he shrugged at Yusei. "Because I know you, and I know Star." He looked as if it were the answer to everything. "You're one in the same. When one breaks, so does the other."

"Jack—"

"I knew that the sooner I fixed Star, the less time you'd spend being worried." He smirked, a devious yet knowing look on his face. "You're annoying enough when the house is messy. I didn't wanna have to deal with this, too."

Not now. Just…not now.

Another time he might have smiled at the comment, or at the very least punch Jack in the arm for saying it, but like the inside of Stardust, he felt hollow. Jack lessened his grin, although seemingly for Yusei's sake and less from sadness. Yusei met his gaze, silent and pushed a little farther than he cared to have been that day, and left the basement.

.o.

The warm water of the shower fell down and slithered over his shoulders, splashing loudly as it hit the bottom. His head felt heavy, his once spiked hair having completely fallen from its usually height and now thick as it clung to his neck with the water. He ran his fingers through the tangled locks and pulled one out to the side, noting the gold streaks he had gotten done a while back. They were starting to fade some, and he would have to get them redone soon.

The heat and steam swirled in the enclosed shower, the mist curling up from the floor like a hot spring and its tendrils wrapping around Yusei's naked form. It was almost consuming, the heat, and his lungs were starting to reject the extremely warm air. With a heaving sigh he shut the shower off and sunk to the floor, knees pulled up to his chest while he rested his head against the cool tile wall. With the lack of running water he could hear the sounds of people walking around the upstairs floor, the heavier, careless thuds of Jack stomping around like a freaking elephant and the gentler, calm steps of his father. At some point he could even hear the two of them talking, their distinct voices distorted by distance and walls. Once they finished, Jack thumped his way back downstairs and Hakase lingered upstairs.

Sighing, he laid his head across his forearms and closed his eyes, breathing deeply for a moment when someone knocked on the door, startling him.

"Yusei?" Came Hakase's voice. "You all right?"

"What? Yeah," Yusei answered, his eyelids strangely heavy but his heart still pounding with surprise. "What time is it?"

"Almost ten-thirty. Did you fall asleep? I heard the water stop running a while ago."

"Uh…"

"I'll take that as a yes. Do you need help?"

"No, I'm fine," Yusei said, pushing back the door to the shower and letting the cold air rush in. Goose bumps prickled on his skin at the sensation and he shuddered briefly before rising and leaning out to grab his towel. "It's okay, Dad. I'm just tired."

"Alright. I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Jack's still up."

"Okay. Night, Dad."

"Good night, Yusei."

Hakase's footsteps disappeared and shortly after a door clicked shut. Yusei could not hear Jack moving about, but the blonde may have finally settled down. Stepping onto the cold tile floor he winced and darted for the throw rug in front of the sink to save his feet from freezing. The air was noticeably cooler now and any mist that might have collected on the mirror had dissipated completely. There was no clock in the bathroom and Yusei wasn't one to wear a watch, but his father's suspicions were confirmed now that he gathered his surroundings,

God…was I that tired?

The painful squeezing in his heart had fallen flat, leaving his chest feeling strangely hollow but relaxed. He had not noticed his pounding headache until he entered the shower, but his impromptu nap had cleared the pain and allowed him to think with a clearer mind.

Of course, his first thought was that it was cold.

Shivering minutely, he rubbed the water from his skin vigorously until he started working up a sweat just by drying. His hair was a bit dryer by but still clumped together in wet locks that touched his shoulders, and in need of combing lest it become a mess in the morning. Giving a final shudder from the cold he hung his towel up on a hook and went to put his pajamas on when he realized that they were nowhere to be found, just his clothes from that day.

Why aren't they—oh, right.

He had not stopped to grab on his storm to the bathroom, his stressed mind having scrambled his priorities and forced him somewhere where he would not be bothered. Not desiring to walk down the hall of his house naked (although lord knows that Jack did it as often as he liked) he threw the rest of his clothes into the laundry shoot and pulled his jeans back on over his hips, the denim clinging slightly to his damp skin and sticking a little. Tucking his bangs back behind an ear he quickly washed his face to prevent acne from giving him an unexpected surprise in the morning and brushed his teeth, noting that Jack's toothbrush was in the bathroom and that he likely needed it. Normally Yusei being in the bathroom, regardless of what he doing (and Jack had walked in on a few embarrassing occasions only to say he was mad Yusei did not invite him to the "show"), and did what he needed to in order to get ready for bed or for school.

But he didn't, Yusei thought.

Heart fluttering momentarily, he knew that he would have brave the rest of the house if he wanted to get some sleep. Taking a steadying breath he hoped he would not need, he opened the door and felt the warmer air of the house rush in at him all at once before suddenly dying with the newly achieve equilibrium. The lights were off except for a soft glow from downstairs and the bathroom itself. Not hearing any sounds coming from his room Yusei wandered down the hall and thumped down the stairs into the kitchen, where the light was coming from. Nothing jumped out at him and he drifted into the living room thereafter, noting that his things had been picked up and put back in his bag. A darkness he did not foresee briefly descended on his mind and he warily pulled his binder back from his messenger bag to check that he still had the physics assignment sheet. He did.

If it had been any darker downstairs he might have missed it, but he gasped when he saw that it had been written on, Jack's handwriting scribbled on the top of sheet spelling "Yusei Fudo and Jack Atlas" in the name box. With racing eyes he looked down the page and saw five completed questions, work included. The heat of his frustration swept itself away and he collapsed on the couch, disbelieving that any work had been done at all. It did not matter that Jack had picked the easiest ones—he was not the greatest at math and Yusei did not mind doing the harder work if it meant it would be done right. Shuffling the papers back in his binder and stuffing the thing back in his bag, he made for the basement only to see that the light was off downstairs and not a sound to be heard.

Maybe he went to bed, after all…

Not sure if what he was feeling was mild disappointment or simply anticlimactic, he shut the basement door and turned off the lights downstairs, checking briefly that the front door was locked and the windows shut. In the countryside an unlocked door would not have mattered as thievery was severely cracked down on, but Yusei knew far better than to assume that would be the same case in the city.

Jack's ridiculous stomping could be briefly heard on the upstairs floor and Yusei inched his way up the stairs, vaguely unsure if Jack was feeling different after Yusei blew him off despite him fixing Stardust. Jack could stay mad for a long time if he so desired, and had a few times throughout their friendship. He could not remember the last severe thing they argued about, but it had caused Jack to vanish for a few days—both from school and home—and Jack's guardian just about sent the police out after him when Yusei woke up to the blonde slipping into his bed with him. Jack had not apologized for his outburst, but the way he clung to Yusei and buried his face into his neck told him enough, and the two went back to being friends the next day. With their relationship, apologizing could be done a few different ways to demonstrate what they meant, but with Kalin and Crow it had to be handled differently, and even that nearly led to Crow leaving for good when Jack refused to discuss things or offer his apologies for his, well, bitchiness.

The blonde could not be seen in the hall and the bathroom light was now off, the sounds of a sleepless city could be heard whispering through his cracked bedroom door. Pushing the door open, he spotted Jack sitting on the balcony with Archfiend in hand, gently strumming to nothing in particular. Since there was only one chair Jack had pulled Yusei's desk chair onto the small balcony with him, Stardust propped against the railing and watching the pair considerately.

Jack let the notes fade and looked through the dark at a concealed Yusei, grinning wickedly like he did whenever it was just the two of them. "So, you done throwing a fit?"

Yusei drew forward, desperately resisting the urge to slug Jack when he was the big baby of the group. The closer he got, though, it became a greater struggle simply not to start grinning devilishly himself. Jack definitely brought the wicked side of him forward. "I am," Yusei admitted without a hint of repentance. "But how long until you start throwing a fit for me not holding up the bet?"

Oh, yes, Jack did not forget that he did not get his shower. "About that. You're getting up early with me. I don't care if you're still asleep. I will haul your ass out of bed and carry you over my shoulder if I have to."

His threat was a common one, and one that Yusei had no doubts he would act on. Of course, the last time it was because they would be late for the train to get to school, but since the bathroom was just a few yards down the hall Jack would more than likely make it the most humiliating experience of Yusei's life. Self-conscious for a moment, Yusei considered going back inside for a belt to his pants.

"Or you could just wake me up like any normal human being. I wouldn't object to that."

"I know," Jack smirked. "But where's the fun in that?"

Yusei stepped onto the balcony and towards the railing, enjoying the wind that blew past the house carrying the smell of early autumn with it. The sun had yet to settle completely, and along the horizon fringes of deep blue and green could be seen gripping the edges of the earth. Yusei normally did not stay up so late to see the sunset, and he took the opportunity to enjoy it for once. Jack settled back in his seat and returned to strumming, faint but familiar notes from his favorite English songs sifting through the air. Jack, while a Japanese citizen, was American born, adopted when he was nine by Rex Godwin during one of his many trips to the United States. Like a lot of younger kids, he was able to learn Japanese relatively quickly and adapt to Japanese customs, unbothered by the fact he was in a foreign country. He never described what the orphanage was like, and Yusei never asked, but according to Godwin, leaving it had done wonders for him.

He had been offered the chance to change his American name into a Japanese one, but for whatever reason had begged Godwin to keep his original name. It made for a unique situation, as Jack was the only kid at school whose name was written in Katakana, as well as the only natural blonde. A few boys had been inspired by his appearance to try and achieve a more western look, bleaching their hair and dyeing it blonde, but it did not look nearly as good on them as it did a Caucasian. As a result of growing up partially in America, Jack still retained his interest in western music and songs sung in English. He had some other music on his iPod that was not English but German, Spanish, and Russian. He admitted that he did not understand anything outside of the English, but growing up in a country where diversity was a way of life, he did not feel the same restrictions a lot of other eastern born people did and had a wide appreciation for things that were different. He even had some Korean songs, although those he kept at home and did not share at school, well aware of the reaction he would get. There were days when his western heritage created some conflict at school, and while he still paraded around trying to come off as an American teenager, he knew when to hide, too.

"…when your dreams all fail, and the ones we hailed are the worst of all, and the bloods run stale…" Jack muttered to himself, the song equally slow and quiet like his voice. Yusei listened, understanding only some of the words but recognizing that it was English.

"I haven't heard that one before," he said, nodding his head at Archfiend when Jack looked up. Yusei had made it a goal to learn some of Jack's favorite western songs to explore new genres and types, and had even mastered the lyrics for one in time for White Day. His performance had not been the best, but Jack had loved it so much he practically jumped on him in order to hug him in thanks.

"It's called "Demons"," Jack said. "It's from an indie group called Imagine Dragons."

Yusei wracked his brain briefly for the definition of indie, remembering that Jack had once explained it to him. "That's a group that does their own thing, right?"

"Kinda. They aren't into mainstream stuff, so they're not as well known as other people."

"Like Justin Bieber?" People knew that name everywhere.

Jack shuddered at the mention of the name. "Yeah…"

Yusei laughed at his exaggerated abhorrence, Jack joining in shortly after. As their laughter died Jack motioned to Stardust, telling him to test it. "I know I did it right, but you need to tune it again since you have new strings."

He picked up Stardust carefully and moved to sit beside his friend, noting Jack's appreciative glance at the low riding jeans and the dark curl of hair that peeked up just above the top of his pants. Jack liked things like that, though he never shared why. Yusei accepted it as a Jack thing and let it be, content to be appreciated for what he had.

He sat down and settled Stardust across his lap, fingers sliding up and down the fingerboard as he tested the sound. Some of the strings played a bit softer than others, and he adjusted the tuners until the strings hummed to an equal tone. As soon as Stardust was back up to speed he played some more, moving from one note to the next without care of what things were sounding like. He fell into a rhythm, and Jack smiled to himself, lazily strumming a back-up to Yusei's song and matching the tempo easily. It never took them long to find a good beat with each other, not even when they were first getting used to the idea of them playing together. Something just clicked. It was this connection to his fellow musician that drew Yusei in the most, the insane ease in which they could sync up and put something amazing together.

Geez, I sound like we're making a baby together. Of course, knowing Jack, if the blonde somehow got Yusei pregnant (regardless of the impossibility of it) he would likely die from sheer happiness. And Yusei did not put it past him to pray for conception every time they had sex. Not that they had gotten around to their first time, but the two of them were so easily aroused by the other that it was only a matter of time. And not much, if that.

Yawning, Jack stopped playing and stretched his long arms. As the myth went, the contagious yawn carried over to Yusei too and he yawned loudly himself, covering his mouth with his hand. Wordlessly, the two went back inside, the raven noting the late hour on his clock while Jack dragged the office chair back in the room. Yusei kept no guitar stands in his room, so Archfiend and Stardust were propped up against Yusei's closet door for the night. Jack wandered off to brush his teeth and use the bathroom while Yusei grabbed a second pillow for his bed for Jack to use, stripping from his jeans once the bed was set and crawling beneath the covers.

His bed actually contained a pull-out beneath it, but it rarely saw use. It had been Hakase's idea so that Jack could stay in the same room and not the distant guest room, but with the strange relationship between them it did not last long. Jack used it only once before deciding he liked Yusei's bed more, and the raven had not been able to get him out since. The pull-out was now Crow's for whenever he slept over, although this too was rare due to the three foster siblings back home that Crow looked after. Of all the boys, he went home the earliest and stayed over the least, but unlike Kalin or Jack, he never complained about having work to tend to back home. He loved his foster siblings more than most blood related families liked each other, and Yusei respected him for it. He was an only child, his mother having passed when he was little, and so he never got the chance to have a younger sibling.

Kalin tried sleeping on the pull-out bed once, but he hated it and asked that he be allowed to sleep in the guest room. Neither Fudo had an issue with it, and it allowed Jack to sleep in Yusei's bed without Kalin seeing, but it still made Yusei crumble inside all the same. The one time Kalin spent the night in his room had been a restless one, the poor boy waking up screaming in the night more times than the raven could count. Yusei held him afterwards and forced him to stay awake for at least an hour, unable to listen to the whimpering and crying anymore. Kalin broke down into tears because of it and cried that he was grateful for friends like Yusei, but since that night stayed in the guest room, several walls blocking the chance of him being heard. God, Kalin…

"Think any harder and your brain's going to spontaneously combust."

"Spell spontaneously."

"Fuck off," Jack grumbled, shoving Yusei over farther before sitting on the bed to take off his clothes, the garments landing in a heap somewhere in the dark. The blonde's long legs tangled themselves within Yusei's and Jack curled around the smaller boy, the raven's back to him but their faces pressed closed together.

The moon shone through the window, Yusei having forgotten to close the curtains earlier, and cast a glow on Stardust. It was not that Yusei could see this with his back to the guitar, but he could spot the small freckles on the wall, remnants of the moon's light reflecting off the silver pieces of Stardust's body. The white paint was chipped in some places but still relatively whole, but it was impossible to tell what the silver used to form. Kalin had offered to give Stardust a new coat of paint to hide the bare wood beneath, or at the very least turn the silver speckles back into something recognizable, but Yusei declined on both counts. Stardust gained its name that day because of it, the remaining silver like dust along the supple form of the guitar.

Yusei was not the only one to see the glittering, Jack smirking and rolling his head up some to see what his friend was so fixed on. "It's saying goodnight," he said quietly, a smile on his face. Archfiend was a very outstanding guitar, meant for places where the light could truly bring to light the rich color of the wood. Stardust, the oldest of the guitars in their group, had likely seen a lot of sun during its time. But now that it had aged and experienced, the adolescent mentality of it had vanished, leaving a silent guardian that watched over its fledging group of instruments by night.

Such an amazing guitar, Yusei thought. Guy behind me's not so bad, either…

"Hey, Jack?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

A smile. Jack's arms tightened around his body, and he nodded despite burying his face in Yusei's hair. "You're welcome, Yusei."

.o.

So Jack's not actually a bad boy, but I could totally see him swishing his hips to a song like this in Yusei's bedroom trying to be a tease. Or to piss him off. Jack doesn't really have a whole lot of goals in life outside of those two things. (And devouring the Fudo fridge). If you can't see Jack doing this, then…well, you just can't see it. XD

At first I thought the ending should be something mind changing or philosophical, but the more I thought about it, I understood that real people aren't like that. And close friends are different in their interactions with each other than strangers. For these two, little reminders that they love each are what they thrive on, not insane gratitude.

Chapter one down—now chapter two! XD