Summary: Yuzu loves Yuya. [a short drabble looking at Yuzu and Yuya's developing feelings and how they compare to Shingo's own.]
Pairing(s)/Character(s): one-sided Shingo/Yuya, heavily implied Yuya/Yuzu
Rating: K
Warning(s): n/a
Words: 595
The A/N can be found at the end of the piece, if you're interested.
There's something Shingo finds undeniably frustrating about Yuzu's performance.
Of course, that's to be expected - entertainment dueling has become more or less he and Yuya's thing, even if You Show School specialized in it long before Yuya and Shingo even really met. Time is but a number though, and let it be known that Shingo is more than capable of showing up Yuzu's performance spectacularly the second he rides into that ring.
There's more to it than that, however.
The audience's reaction is one thing. As much as Shingo thrives in the spotlight and constantly thirsts for attention, this audience doesn't really mean anything to him. When it boils down to it, the people seated out there are all nameless faces, irrelevant strangers from a foreign world. He has no doubt that their attention would be easy to win once it's finally his turn to show his stuff.
But there's another audience that is far more difficult to impress, especially as of late.
"The fun has just begun!"
The words - Yuya's words, Yuzu's words - ring hollow in his mind as they begin preparing the arena for the next duel on the screen situated before him. It was a phrase Shingo had grown all-too-familiar with since dueling Yuya that first time, when he had robbed the other teen of his Pendulum cards and held those precious to him hostage. Even then, Yuya had been able to wear a smile and shout those godforsaken words to his imaginary audience. He's not sure where the phrase had stemmed from, but there's no doubt that it represents something irreplaceably important to Yuya, and there's no questioning what Yuzu meant to convey by saying them today.
Yuzu loves Yuya.
The thought is sickening, yet it purists even as Shingo collapses back on the bed he sits upon and tries to think of something else, anything else. He tries to think of home, of how the mere mention of his father's name could garner him anything he asked for. He tries to think of home, of how he and Yuya's entertainment duel blew away the spectators of the Maiami Championship. But instead Yuya's face comes to his mind unbidden, the boy's cheeks flushed and this stupidly content smile playing on his lips as he watches Yuzu duel in his name.
Disgusting.
Ever since Reiji gathered the Lancers, it's only been "Yuzu, Yuzu, Yuzu" with Yuya. The girl wasn't even around but only God knows if the other teen had thought of anything else. Even when Yuya had been supposed to be entertaining the prisoners with his duel against Chojiro and Shingo himself, it was obvious that Yuya was preoccupied with escaping in order to see that silly girl again.
What does Yuzu have, anyways? When it boils down to it, she's hardly anything spectacular. Sure, she's cute, but she most certainly doesn't have anything Shingo lacks. Whereas she's cute, Shingo is stunning. While her father is a simple owner of a Duel School, Shingo's own is about to be mayor of the very city they live in. Even in terms of duelling, Shingo meets and exceeds Yuzu's standards. Shingo should be than capable of keeping that stupid grin plastered on Yuya's face. Yet without Yuzu around, Yuya is capable of doing little more than dragging himself around like some pitiful lost puppy.
But what does Shingo care? He's too great to concern himself with a person like Yuya, of all people. It's not as though he likes him or anything, after all.
Yeah. That's what he tells himself.
A/N: alright. i am embarrassing attached to both braceletshipping and dartshipping (haha ofc i would get myself fixated on the two pairings that are like... the most least likely to be canon but what can you do amirite), so today's episode was... a bit hurtful considering i'm in a constant state of pretending that yuya and yuzu's feelings towards each other are ~entirely platonic~. but then i realized that i was actually just presented with the perfect opportunity to write hopeless unrequited pining and considering how yuto is indefinitely MIA and isn't really in the place to be moping over anything besides the fact that's he's practically dead... this was born.
that aside though wow is shingo a tough cookie to crack. while it seems like writing someone as simple-minded as he is should be rather easy, it's really... not, especially in circumstances such as the ones written here. i guess shingo's staple, for lack of a better word, is more or less being undeniably arrogant and a bit ignorant of his surroundings, but that kind of thing is a bit hard to nail when trying to to express a more... reflective feeling lmao. i feel as tho might have been able to get away with it by making Shingo's voice more angry than melancholy, but even then i'm a bit insecure about putting this out there lmao. there's probably a lot more i can say, but i suppose it's best if i leave at this point considering that i'm a bit of an emotional wreck rn lol. hopefully you enjoyed reading about angrily pining Shingo (in denial) as much as i enjoyed writing it! :))