Disclaimer – Not mine. Wah!
A/N – Written for Jenivi7, who requested a fic with Anzu in it. More than the drabble I intended it to be, but my fingers wouldn't listen when I ordered them to stop chicken-pecking the keyboard.
Jogging
© Scribbler, May 2008.
Yuugi remembered why he didn't go jogging with Anzu around the time his lungs tried to crawl up his throat and hurl themselves onto the pavement.
"Are you okay?"
"F-Fine."
"You're going a very funny colour."
"I … just need to … tie my shoelace …"
She shot him a disbelieving look but said nothing. They stopped next to the park fence and Yuugi propped his left foot on the wall. This was the third time he'd untied and retied that lace, but it was already four times on the other foot, and though he didn't think Anzu was counting he couldn't be sure. Thank goodness he hadn't worn the Velcro sneakers today. Rising early enough to join her for her pre-school circuit of town had made his fingers fumbly with sleep, but somehow he'd managed to get everything on in the right order before she arrived.
"Aren't you going to wear that new sweatband I gave you?" she'd asked, referring to the gift purchased when Yuugi, in a fit of what he could only characterise as sudden rampant insanity, asked whether he could come along the next time she went jogging.
Anzu had been shocked and then delighted, since Honda and Jounouchi regularly teased her about her fitness regime. They had metabolisms like furnaces and burned calories with the same ferocity as a firebomb in an oilfield. Yuugi's offer of company meant Anzu had came to school the very next day with a matching set of head- and wrist-bands in lurid green for him.
While Yuugi had run upstairs to fetch them, Sugoroku emerged from the bathroom with his newspaper and a raised eyebrow that his grandson was already out of bed. Usually it took opening the door and flipping on the light to force from the duvet's warm embrace. Then he'd descended the stairs, spotted Anzu, and all became clear in a way that made Yuugi blush and resolve to tell him that he hadn't known about her snug running top or shorts when he suggested this, and that it was totally not the reason for him tagging along.
In the time it had taken Yuugi to find his new sweatband and fight it over his head, Anzu had talked with Sugoroku, had him refill her water bottle, readjusted the crooked hall mirror and subtly altered her hair in it. Yuugi didn't understand that sort of thing, but the net effect had made him forget what he was going to say and walk into the door.
"Are you done?" Anzu now asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Just … about …" Blood pounded in Yuugi's ears. He set off again, gamely trying to keep pace and reminding himself it was only a few more blocks and then he'd be home. Just in time for school. Wonderful. How the heck does she do this every morning and still ace all her tests?
Anzu kept going with the kind of dogged determination she applied to everything in life. You could set a metronome by the measure of her breath, and though the middle of her top was soaked with sweat and her hair had become rumpled like the top of a muffin over her own headband, she still managed to look attractive. Yuugi resisted the urge to keep glancing sidelong at her. Ever since Egypt he'd been noticing that more and more, which was faintly disturbing as his impulse control had taken a running jump at about the same time. Where once he was content to keep his crush under wraps and admire her from a distance, now he did stupid things like volunteer to play dressmaker's dummy for her dance recital dress, try out her newest culinary concoction or go jogging with her – things he had no obligation to do but suggested without prompting because Yami had apparently messed up the electrical signals in his brain when he left.
Eventually they arrived back the Game Shop. Anzu leaned against the wall, pulling first one leg behind her in a stretch to prevent muscle strain, then the other. Yuugi just leaned against the wall because if he didn't he was likely to collapse.
"This was fun," Anzu said brightly.
"Yeah," Yuugi replied. "Fun." Monosyllables. Good. He could handle monosyllables with minimum breath and not sound like an asphyxiating hyena.
"We should do it again tomorrow."
No. No. No way could he survive this again. No way, no how, no chance in hell- "Sure, that'd be great." Damn.
Anzu's smile was dazzling as a disco ball. It made Yuugi melt a little inside. "Cool. I'd better get going so I can have a shower before getting ready for school. I'll call past for you and we can walk together."
Walk? He was expected to walk after this? Every muscle was screaming at him, using rude words and spasming beneath his tracksuit. The mere thought of a full day at school made Yuugi wish for another apocalyptic threat to get him out of it. "Okay."
Anzu waved and jogged off, still with that same steadfast pace. Yuugi waited for her to go before sliding to the floor and sitting with his back against the front door. When it opened he flopped backwards, unable even to keep himself upright. He stared into his grandfather's face.
"There are easier ways, you know."
"Huh?"
Sugoroku shook his head. "Never mind. Come on inside before you catch a chill from the sweat drying on you."
"I can't move."
Nonetheless, Yuugi dragged himself inside to breakfast and a freshly pressed uniform laid out on his bed. His headband was sodden, but rather than dump it in the sink like it deserved, he spent a long moment staring at it in his hand. He remembered the careful way Anzu angled her footfalls to never land on cracks in the asphalt, the shape of her smile, and how she examined birds and passing cars, giving his pride privacy while he gasped for air embarrassingly on the sidewalk.
When she arrived later, dressed in her school uniform and with no evidence of having already done a gruelling work out, Yuugi made it his business to compliment her energy. When she blushed a little it made everything – the indignity, the pain, the knowledge that by tonight he was going to be walking like an incontinent pensioner – completely worthwhile.
Fin.