Notes: This one takes place when they're about still in high school—maybe in first year, after Death-T but before Duelist Kingdom. So, quite a bit earlier than the first three, but hey: I did say this collection would jump around quite a bit.

And yes, as Vol. 5, Ch. 41 of the manga shows us, Yuugi's grades are canonically terrible.

The Space Between Our Hands

Four: A Coordinated Effort, or Impromptu Sleepovers

Homework was, without question, the worst, although Yuugi supposed that if he didn't have a bad habit of leaving it until the very last minute, it might not feel as grueling as it did when he finally decided to attack the mountain that had built up in his backpack.

As he looked over Jounouchi's completed math assignment and compared it to the one he was working on himself (his textbook propped up against the wall beneath his window), he figured that it wasn't entirely his fault that he procrastinated his homework so badly. Homework was boring; it was challenging sometimes, but the challenge was better compared to scooping water with a spatula than completing advanced levels in a video game. There was no real reward to it (besides good marks and placement in a good university, his mother would remind him sternly, but those two things didn't feel very motivating to Yuugi), and it exhausted him by the midway point. The work that wasn't challenging was just boring; it was busy work, and Yuugi felt his attention slipping away every time he attempted it. Why should he waste his time doing that when he could be playing a game or watching a movie instead? There were plenty of things that he and Jounouchi could do instead of wasting their time with homework. Having him over just so they could finally start to carve through their homework pile (one that Yuugi had wisely kept out of Anzu's sight, knowing that her opinion would be similar to that of his mother's) felt unfair to both of them.

But that was how they had decided to spend Sunday night anyway, given that they both had enough homework backlogged to wrap Mt Fuji twice over (not that Yuugi knew how much homework that would actually take, and the algebra he was currently trying to cut through had worn his brain down with enough math that he didn't want to spend the energy to figure it out). Jounouchi was better at math than Yuugi was, so he did their math assignment first before passing it off to Yuugi (who did his best to double check it for accuracy while copying down the work, changing things here or there to make it less easy to detect). Meanwhile, since Yuugi had received help on their history assignment from his grandpa earlier in the afternoon, Yuugi had passed that off to Jounouchi so that he could look off it to complete his own. What they were doing was technically cheating, Yuugi supposed, but it wasn't like they were cheating on tests or games, so it didn't feel like as big of a deal. Besides, he thought, as he gave up trying to puzzle out problem seventeen and just copied down what Jounouchi had written, it's not like we're going to be top of the class anyway, so it's not like we're really hurting anyone.

No one but themselves, anyway, given that their procrastination had led to them spending from six in the evening until—Yuugi looked at the clock on his bed's headboard and bit back a groan—midnight working on their homework, but—

Yuugi blinked, briefly distracted from his exasperation and irritation at the late hour as he caught sight of Jounouchi on his bed.

While Yuugi had chosen to sit at his desk, Jounouchi had chosen to sprawl across Yuugi's bed. Jounouchi being Jounouchi, he was never comfortable in one position for long; he shifted every so often from laying on his side, to sitting back against the wall, to sprawling on his stomach, to hanging halfway off the bed . . . Jounouchi's occasional fidgeting and movement, combined with the occasional complaints about the work or questions lobbed between them, had done a good job of breaking up the silence and killing the monotony of the schoolwork that plagued them. But it occurred to Yuugi that Jounouchi had been oddly quiet for a while now, both in terms of things he said and movements he made, and as he looked at Jounouchi now, he could see why.

Jounouchi had laid on his stomach again, his history textbook open against Yuugi's pillows, Yuugi's assignment on one side and his own scratched into the pages of a spiral notebook on the other. If Yuugi had to guess, when Jounouchi had been working earlier, he'd had his elbow propped on his left arm. Now, however, he was using his arm as a makeshift pillow, his cheek pressed against his forearm while his head rested in the crook of his elbow. His pencil was still balanced in his right hand, the tip held loosely above his notebook as he slept.

Yuugi smiled faintly. The tedious nature of their history assignment aside, it was no wonder that Jounouchi had fallen asleep. His work as a newspaper delivery boy had him up pretty early every day, and it had gotten pretty late. Yuugi couldn't be sure when Jounouchi had fallen asleep, exactly—maybe an hour ago, if he had to guess—but for him to pass out on the bed like that, he probably needed it.

His math assignment wasn't done, and when he leaned over to get a look at what Jounouchi had written, Yuugi saw that Jounouchi's history assignment wasn't done, either. But it was late, Jounouchi was sleeping, and even though neither their math nor their history teacher would be pleased with them the following morning, Yuugi didn't want to stay up to keep plowing through his homework alone. He slipped his math assignment into his textbook before he closed it, and dropped it—along with the pencil and calculator he had been using—into his book bag. That accomplished (and already feeling a bit better now that it was out of his sight), Yuugi grabbed Jounouchi's math assignment from his desk and slipped it into Jounouchi's bag, likewise wedging it in between the pages of Jounouchi's math book. If nothing else, Yuugi thought, Jounouchi had his math homework done, and Yuugi had completed his own history assignment. At least they would please one teacher a piece. That was better than nothing. (They had also completed their science and literature assignments, though neither of them had even started their English work. Yuugi wasn't very fond of thinking about his English grade.)

Jounouchi had, thankfully, not fallen asleep on top of his book or either of the assignments, and so Yuugi was able to reach across him to grab his own history assignment and stick that into his book bag before he set about gathering Jounouchi's things. Though his back rose and fell steadily with each slow, deep breath he took, Jounouchi didn't so much as twitch as Yuugi grabbed his history textbook and notebook, or even when Yuugi plucked his pencil from his hand. Yuugi shoved the textbook, notebook, and pencil into Jounouchi's bag before he set it on his desk chair with his own. Despite the way he dropped it onto the chair—despite the way the heavy bag hit the chair with a decently loud thud—Jounouchi slept just as soundly as before.

Well, at least he was getting good rest.

Though he debated waking Jounouchi up so that he could get home (he would, after all, need a fresh change of clothes and a shower before school the next morning), he ultimately decided against it as he took his pajamas to the bathroom so he could change and brush his teeth. Sending him home would mean sending him back to his father, and while Jounouchi insisted that Yuugi didn't need to worry about his dad, that didn't stop Yuugi from worrying all the same. An impromptu sleepover wasn't so bad, anyway; Yuugi was sure Jounouchi had work the next morning (and he didn't know what time, but he would set his alarm for four a.m. just in case since he seemed to remember Jounouchi saying that it was at an "ungodly hour" once, and four a.m. seemed ungodly enough), but maybe if Jounouchi finished his paper route quickly enough, they could both finish their history and math assignments. If nothing else, when Jounouchi woke up to go to work, maybe Yuugi would wake up to complete his math homework before class. (This was a pipe dream, and Yuugi knew it even as he turned off the tap and headed back to his room, but it felt good to tell himself that he would wake up early and be productive with his schoolwork even if everyone and Yuugi's own grandfather knew he wouldn't actually do it.)

After he tossed his clothes at his laundry hamper and set the Millennium Puzzle on his desk, Yuugi switched off the light and made his way over to the bed. Jounouchi had sprawled right down the middle; his legs were long enough that his feet dangled off the end, and no matter which way Yuugi looked, he couldn't see a way for him to fit comfortably on the bed with Jounouchi taking up the center. He hadn't wanted to wake Jounouchi up, and he still didn't, but without much of a choice left he leaned over and gently shook Jounouchi's shoulder.

"Hey, Jounouchi-kun," he said softly. "Move over."

Jounouchi started a little under Yuugi's touch, and his breathing stuttered sharply as his eyes fluttered open. Even though the only light in the room was now from the moonlight shining in through the window, Yuugi could still see the sleepy confusion that crossed his best friend's face, even as Jounouchi blinked a few times as though trying to be more alert.

"Wha—?"

"Don't worry about it," Yuugi said quickly, and he gave Jounouchi another gentle nudge toward the other side of the bed. "It's late, just scoot over."

Whether it was because he had realized that it was too late to go home, or because he was just sleepy enough to listen to whatever Yuugi said so long as it meant he got to sleep more, Jounouchi rolled onto his back and shifted so that he was on the side of the bed against the wall. Yuugi settled down onto the mattress himself (squirming under the covers as best he could with Jounouchi still lying on top of them), and reached over to swipe his alarm clock off the headboard once he was settled.

"Hey," he said, even though a glance over told him that Jounouchi's eyes had fallen shut again, his breathing once again slowing to a more rhythmic, even pace, "is four a good time to wake up for work?"

Jounouchi hummed what Yuugi thought (or hoped, at least) was an affirmative, and so Yuugi set the alarm for four before he put the clock back on his headboard and settled back down in the bed.

Yuugi's bed wasn't the biggest in the world, and even given the difference in their size, they each took up one half of it. He only had one pillow, and now that Jounouchi had adjusted his position so that he was lying on the bed properly (even if he still wasn't under the covers), he and Yuugi were sharing it. Still, despite the lack of real space, Yuugi found he didn't really mind. Jounouchi's breathing was nice and even, and was somehow soothing in the otherwise silent room. Even when Jounouchi rolled over so that his arm was slung across Yuugi's side, his breath brushing against the back of Yuugi's neck, Yuugi couldn't help but smile a little.

They hadn't finished all of their homework, and his bed was a bit small for two people, but as he drifted to sleep under Jounouchi's arm, Yuugi couldn't help but feel that everything was as it should be.