Complex Equations

by Mahayana

Warning, contains: Aki/Yusei, Aki/Crow, Crow/Yusei, Team Satisfaction/Yusei. Authors notes contain Bruno/Yusei. Mostly contains Yusei/d-wheel.

Aki stares at the page in front of her with knitted brows. She's sitting at her desk, working on her physics homework, a glass of iced tea at her elbow and a pen clenched between her teeth. She chews on the cap in frustration. Usually she's good at this. She gets these without a problem. This question however, has been vexing her for the past half an hour. Her eyes burn from the strain. She's already checked her collection of other physics textbooks for answers, but the numbers still don't make sense in her head. Her gaze flickers to her laptop. Her parents did sign her up for online cram school. She could try emailing her tutor…

Or she could ask Yusei.

The struggle is a short one. She already knows who she'd rather talk to. And turning down an excuse to go over to Yusei's place is hard. If she were truly honest with herself, she was hoping to run across a problem like this. She probably could have tried a little harder to find the answer on her own too. There are still her father's physics books downstairs… She dismisses the idea with a decisive flick of the pen. Yusei won't mind. He's always been kind to her. And their best moments together are when he's explaining something, his eyes alive with passion for the subject and the chance to talk to someone about it. She grabs her books, and a few extra pens, and runs downstairs. Her mother gets a strange gleam in her eyes when she tells her she's going to Yusei's for help with her physics, but Aki doesn't over-think that. Parents are strange, and she has somewhere to be right now.

x x x x x

"Oh, Yusei? Yeah, he's in the shower right now. The d-wheel blew up in his face again," Crow leans casually against the kitchen doorway and glances at the books in her arms. He grins, eyebrows wagging suggestively. "Need help with your homework again?"

There's something about the sly way he says that. Aki nods to answer his question, but she knows Crow's making fun of her. He hooks a thumb towards the couch. "Well, you know the routine. Make yourself at home. Want something to drink? Orange juice? Tea? Jack's got this really nice stash of Earl Gray…"

"No thank you." She sets her books on the edge of their coffee table, and sits in the worn armchair. Crow is about to leave for the kitchen to go do… whatever he was doing before she came here and interrupted. But he changes his mind, turns on his heel and stalks back towards her. The shift in his attitude is so abrupt, it makes Aki sit up in alarm. Crow slides onto the armrest by her elbow, drapes one arm over the backrest with boneless grace, and leans in familiarly close to her ear.

"I've been trying to help, you know?" he whispers conspiratorially.

Aki stares at him from the corner of her eye like he's gone mad. "I don't know what you're talking about," she says. "Helping with what?"

"Helping Yusei realize that there's a beautiful, smart girl trying to get his attention. He's stupid, you know?" Crow rolls his eyes.

Aki sputters. She's suddenly glad she's not drinking anything. She would have spilled it all over her lap by now. "What makes you think I like him?" She sounds indignant. Crow raises his eyebrows at her as if to say "Do I look that stupid to you?"

Aki frowns, but the charade's up. "Okay," she breathes. "I DO like him. But don't tell him that!"

"Pfft. Don't worry," Crow scoffs. "Unlike Jack, I know subtlety. Just don't let Jack notice. He'd blab you out in a second. Guy's crap at keeping secrets." Aki still worries though. If she was being this obvious…

"I've been dropping hints, you know?" Crow goes on to elaborate. "Like, 'Hey Yusei! You know, I think Aki got a new haircut recently. Looks good, don't you think? You should tell her so next time.' and stuff like that. He's not catching on though. You'll have to be more obvious. Unless she's got two wheels and a momentum engine strapped to her, Yusei barely notices girls. I bought him this playboy magazine once…" Crow trails off, it dawning on him what he was about to say.

Aki only quirks her eyebrow at him expectantly. "Oh? And what did Yusei think of that?"

Crow's vaguely horrified at his predicament and doesn't know if he should go on with the story, but damn. His big mouth already got him into this mess. "Okay, so I bought him a playboy magazine once," he continues. "This was back on Satellite. He flipped through it. When he got to the centerfold… man, his eyes got so wide. We thought, Jack and I, we thought he was admiring the jugs on Miss March. Turns out, the d-wheel she was draped on was a DX-5002 series build. Yusei's been fantasizing about that bike forever. In the end, I had to let him cut it out for his own records. He had some ambition to recreate the paint job…" The look on Crow's face speaks of great suffering and defeat. Like a martyr trying to show a man the error of his ways, only to be repelled over and over again.

Aki doesn't know whether she should laugh at that, but she does so anyway. Things like this make Yusei only more endearing. He's such a good guy…

Crow doesn't think so. "You laugh, but you realize that if Yusei had a functioning pair of eyes in his skull, your life would be a lot easier right now."

"Then what do I do?" She can't believe she's asking Crow for relationship advice. But looking at him now, in light of everything he's just said… it's good to have allies, she supposes.

Crow only sighs at the question. "Heck if I know. You're already into Duel Monsters, and you're damn good at it too. That should have gotten Yusei's attention. It did. But beyond that… Sadly, your awesome cleavage isn't working on him…"

Aki covers her chest self-consciously. Then realizes the implications of Crow's statement.

"Is he… do you think he's…" Aki can't say it. There's no way he is.

"Is he gay, you mean?" Crow looks at her curiously, surprised that someone with her upbringing would even suggest something like that. "No." Aki breathes a sigh of relief. "Although… Well, he IS a damn good kisser…"

Aki stares at Crow like he just grew a second head. And a pair of horns. Possibly another three arms, and a leg too.

"You—" she chokes.

Crow puts up his hands in defence. "Hey! Don't look at me like that! We were all stupid teenagers. And there weren't a lot of girls around when you mostly hang out with tough guys who play Duel Monsters!" She's staring at him like she can't decide whether she wants to incinerate him with her gaze, or ask him everything he knows about Yusei and kissing. She settles for the later.

"Why did you—"

"Why did I kiss Yusei?" Crow leers. He's actually feeling incredibly awkward right now, but covering stuff like that with bravado and humour is what Crow does. "We were playing 'spin the bottle'. Yusei, Jack, Kiryu and I."

She looks at him incredulously. She can't imagine Yusei playing spin the bottle. Neither can she imagine Jack, nor Crow for that matter…

"I know you probably think it's dumb, but please remember that we are all competitive guys here. And when someone issues a challenge, we can't refuse. Especially not Jack. ESPECIALLY not Jack."

"Whose idea was it anyway?" She feels that this might be the key to understanding this madness.

"Kiryu's…" Crow looks to the side. "He thought it would be hilarious to try playing it with the team. Said we probably couldn't do it. …It was either that, or strip-Duel Monsters. We were all REEEALLY drunk," he concludes. "Also, looking back at it now, I think Kiryu just wanted to see Jack and Yusei kiss. That bastard," Crow laughs.

Aki doesn't know what to say. "You said you kissed Yusei?"

Crow's laugh chokes off. "Yeah. You know how that guy can't do anything half-assed. Not after the first few rounds anyway. After a while, we all started trying to out-do each other. Jerk slipped me some tongue," Crow absently inspects his fingernails. "It was… nice."

Aki stares at him.

Crow stares back. "WHAT? He's hot ok? *I* have a functioning pair of eyes in my head!"

"Who's hot?" Both Crow and Aki freeze. Yusei steps into the living room, towel draped over his neck and a mug of orange juice in his hand. His damp hair is clinging to the back of his neck and face. He's not wearing a shirt. Crow swallows. Aki looks at the ground, eyes wide.

"Nothing!" Crow interjects. "Aki was just complaining about the weather. Right Aki?" he laughs nervously. Yusei has the bloody worst timing.

"RIGHT!" Aki agrees, glad for the distraction.

Yusei looks at them both like he's sceptical, but he lets it go. He sips from his mug of o.j. instead. "Hi Aki," he greets her. "Need help with your physic's homework again?" He looks fondly at the textbooks on the table.

Aki smiles and nods. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Never too much trouble. Let's go up to my room."

Crow sighs and gives Aki a pitying look. Like he's saying "You know, if Yusei were human, lines like that could actually give you hope… Welcome to hell on earth." She looks back at Crow and winks. Secretly, she's a little bit glad. It feels like her and Crow just formed a secret pact. She makes a mental note to talk to him before she leaves.

Mercifully, Yusei puts his shirt back on before he sits down with Aki to go over her homework. But the smell of clean soap coming from his body keeps her distracted. That, and the band aid across the bridge of his nose. It's… really cute.

It's dark outside by the time Aki finishes her homework. After she says goodbye to Yusei, she finds Crow sitting at the kitchen table going over their accounting.

"So you think Yusei is hot. Are you sure you're not gay?" she smirks at him.

Crow looks up from balancing their books, confused for a moment. Then he bursts out laughing as he catches on. He waves his hand dismissively. "Please," he says. "EVERYBODY thinks Yusei is hot. He just does that to people. Doesn't make me gay. Jack, for example, I don't think is hot at all. I don't know how his ugly mug attracts so many women. The guy's useless at everything except for Duel Monsters." Crow frowns at their accounting, then he looks up at Aki and smiles. "Keep it up anyway, yeah? Yusei'll come around eventually. I'll be cheering you on." He winks at her.

"Thanks Crow," Aki hugs him from behind. Then she straightens and punches him on the shoulder. "Just remember, ONE word out of you to ANYBODY about this and you're plant fertilizer. Got it?"

Crow laughs and rubs the sore spot. It doesn't actually hurt, but he plays along. "Yes ma'am!" he salutes her. "Fight the good fight!"

Crow walks her to the door and waves goodbye. He watches her round the corner, and disappear from his sight. Damn. Why are all his friends so damn hot? Between Jack, Yusei and himself, he's the only one who never gets any attention from pretty girls… It's really not fair.

Author's Notes:

Unbeknownst to both Aki and Crow, a mysterious, blue-haired super-mechanic just washed up on shore. How will Izayoi Akiza's love life fair now with the new competition in town? Why does this read like a sitcom in my head?

Poor Crow, nobody appreciates how awesome you are, nor how badass you look in your pro-league riding suit at the end of the series. Don't worry, I'm sure at least Kokoro wants to grow up to be your bride. haha

Somewhere in my head-cannon, all of Team Satisfaction have at least made out with each other at some point. What else are four bored guys gonna do? And you know everybody in the series has a mild crush on Yusei. It's his main character power. Which is why it's all the more hilarious that Fudo Yusei is robosexual. I'm sure he'd be quite good at making out though once he applied himself to it.

In case anyone's wondering, Strip-Duel Monsters. Your life points are your clothes. Every time you take damage, you take something off. The first one to lose all clothes loses. I don't know if more damage = larger items of clothing, but an obvious strategy would be to keep inflicting small amounts of damage to your opponent often, to get them naked faster. Obviously I've been thinking about this too hard.