Notes – For the gx_100. Set in the manga 'verse, during Ryo and Fubuki's first year.
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There were two kings of Duel Academia.
It wasn't as if there was any sort of coronation or anything like that. There wasn't even anything official to say that they were kings, it's just that everyone accepted they were. Even the members of staff quietly thought that way, though they weren't permitted to show favouritism. That had never stopped Chronos in the past though.
The fact was that Ryo and Fubuki were the best. They had defeated so many other opponents and they matched each other equally in their own duels. There really was no stopping them.
For that reason some of the students started to avoid duelling them. In honesty most of people didn't want to duel them anymore. They knew the outcome and didn't want to face defeat personally. It was all very well watching Ryo or Fubuki crush someone else, but when you were that someone else it killed the spark a bit.
Eventually it was left with the only people who wanted to duel Ryo or Fubuki was each other. And annoyingly they seemed to be fine with that.
So one of the students decided to create a Rumour. Which deserved a capital letter just because he felt so proud of what he had created.
Two kings in one kingdom were impossible. You had to have a king and a queen. Everyone knew that.
So it started to spread around the academia that one of them was the queen. After putting up with almost a year of being defeated the others could do with a good laugh so it travelled quickly.
As with all nasty rumours it did eventually reach the ears of the kings themselves.
"So we don't know which one yet, but one of the kings is actually a queen," laughed a yellow student, feeling particularly witty.
"Really? When did that happen?"
The group of boys froze up as Fubuki Tenjoin approached them. What was most terrifying about Fubuki was that he was actually smiling and looking pleasant enough about hearing something like this. If it was Ryo who had heard they could at least feel better at having the shame of his stern glare upon them.
The boy who had spoke stuttered, "That is… we heard… I'm not saying it's true or nothing! It's not like I believe it, it's just what everyone else says!"
Fubuki nodded contently, seemingly not bothered.
One of the other, braver students spoke up to ask, "Which one of you is it?"
They all shushed him quickly but it was too late.
"Hmm," Fubuki folded his arms and looked thoughtful, "Well if you really need a queen that much I suppose you could say it's me."
"What!"
They all started coughing madly at this. He was actually admitting to being the more feminine of the two and possibly even gay?
"It's not as if I feel like a queen," said Fubuki, shrugging at their response, "But if it's such a distressing idea that you all feel the need to talk about it so much than I can live with that title too."
"But it says that you're Kaiser's… um, yours his…" Even the bravest of the group was starting to lose his nerve now.
"Well I'd rather people think I am than Seika is," said Fubuki, grinning maliciously at how much the concept was making them squirm, "So if that's all you guys wanted to know then I guess I'll head back to my kingdom now."
None of them stopped him leaving, as they were too stunned. The word 'queen' would not be uttered between them for quite a while.
Taking his leave, Fubuki rejoined Ryo in one of the study halls.
"Well, that's the queen rumour sorted out," he said cheerfully.
"Should I ask how you managed it?" said Ryo, looking over from where he stood.
"Rumours are easy," said Fubuki, who had mastered the social ladder very early on in life, "As soon as the person being talked about starts agreeing to a rumour it loses it's spark. You've got to be confident because they'd eat you alive if they thought the rumour was getting to you."
"So you openly said one of us is a queen?" asked Ryo, raising an eyebrow.
"Sort of," Fubuki looked guilty, "Hope you don't mind people saying I'm your boyfriend for a while."
A pause as Ryo looked at Fubuki in calculative way.
"I could do worse," he admitted.
So that was how the two kings kept their titles. Sometimes it pays to be shrewd as well as cunning.