Notes – Done for ygodrabble. Set pre-canon, during Jounouchi's childhood after his parents' divorce.
You weren't scared of the dark in this part of Domino.
Maybe some people are, but they didn't last long, Jounouchi knew that better than anyone. He'd seen all kinds of things happen out there, but the worst of it had to be the stuff he'd seen in his own house.
His old man didn't really know the difference between night and day, or if he did Jounouchi felt he'd got it backwards. He spent his days sleeping, and his nights awake, drinking. Both activities usually spent sat in front of the TV.
And sometimes… he got violent.
Even since his mother and sister had left it wasn't unusual for Jounouchi to spend his nights under the bed, covered with his blanket and looking for any slight outline of a large figure in the dark, listening for the tiniest creaks from the floorboards.
This was routine for most of the rougher nights. No one could change that now. You saw all these sob stories on TV about how kids had called places and got help but that never actually happened. No one could prove anything about his dad and if he yelped to get help then he'd just get choked later. No, Jounouchi wasn't going to be that stupid.
Who would want to help some nobody kid like him?
Hearing the floorboards bend under the weight of a person, he pulled his limbs closer to him, trying to make himself as small as possible. The blanket covering his face, so he couldn't see anything but muffled darkness even if he opened his eyes.
He tried to hold his breath; each intake of air seemed to sound like a megaphone's projection to him. Then he heard the footsteps stop in front of his bed.
This hiding place wasn't going to fool anyone; his old man was already reaching under to pull him out. He felt the blanket being tugged away, and with some reluctance let go of it.
Then he blinked into… the light?
Next he saw the confused face of his friend Honda crouched down in front of him, and with a wave of embarrassment tried to pull himself out from under the bed.
"What do you think you're doing coming into a guy's house without permission?" he shot, when he'd crawled out enough to face Honda.
The other boy shrugged, replying, "Door was open and you're really late for school. What time do you think it is?"
Jounouchi couldn't answer. He'd thought, up until a minute ago, that it was still night.
"Your dad's asleep in the living room, if you're quiet we can go without waking him," Honda went on.
"I know how to go about my house without waking him up, thank you," Jounouchi said defensively.
Offering him a hand up, Honda said, "All right, I'll give you that. Now hurry up or there won't be anytime for you to get changed at my house before class."
That was Honda for you, the guy had a family bigger than any Jounouchi had ever heard of but he still had space for a no-good friend to come in, and a spare change of clothes for him to wear if he didn't want to stick around his own house long enough to find his own.
Maybe there was no one on a payroll from Social Services who could help Jounouchi out of this darkness, but he knew who his friends were.