Orange

Theme #25 - Fence
8/30

Disclaimer: Still not mine

Authors Notes: I feel like orange. Thus this is born. It's a one shot for the competition I'm in, round six with a Jou/Yugi pairing, so I hope it's alright if I add it in here anyway, because it does go with this… Oh well, too bad I guess.

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Oh dear.

This was the first thing that Yugi Motou thought upon stepping outside the back door. Followed closely by orange and he's dead. It was a nice, warm Saturday afternoon without a cloud in sight, and his best friend was about to be murdered.

"Jou?" He called hesitantly. The blond looked up at him, paintbrush hovering above the fencepost he was working on.

"Yeah, Yug'? What's up?" Yugi paused, not quite sure how he could explain this without causing panic. And then decided it was impossible to do so, but he could at least break it to him slowly.

"Well," he started, "you've certainly gotten a lot done."

Jou beamed. "Yeah, ain't it great? We'll be done soon, and then we can go swimming or something."

"Uh, about that…"

"You guys don't want to go swimming anymore?" His face fell. "Well, we could just get a pizza or something I guess."

"No, no, Jou, it's not that, it's—um."

"What is it then? Y'know you can tell me anything Yug'."

"How to put this… I'm going swimming, and Honda's coming swimming, and so is Anzu. But you? You won't be."

"Huh?" Joey almost dropped the paintbrush. "Whaddaya mean not coming!"

"Um. You won't be coming because you'll be, um, dead."

"…Dead? Dead! What the heck?"

"By which I mean," Yugi lowered his eyes and trailed off to a mutter. "Honda's gonna kill you. The fence was supposed to be white. Not orange. Um."

The colour faded from Joey's face, and he swore loudly. "Why the heck was there orange paint out here then?"

"There wasn't." Yugi made his way over to stand beside his friend, offering the glass of lemonade he'd come out to deliver in the first place. "It was sitting on the stairs, because it was going to be used for the living room. The paint we were supposed to use is over there." He nodded towards the cans of paint and the thick brushes sitting further along the fence.

"Argh!" Jou began flailing and tugging at his hair. "I'm such an idiot! Honda's gonna kill me, man! And what'll Anzu think? She won't let me forget this for months!" At the sight of his friend's panic, Yugi couldn't help it. He giggled, then promptly slapped a hand to his mouth. Jou stopped his fit and looked at him, head cocked to one side.

"Sorry," Yugi smiled sheepishly. "I can't help it, you just looked so funny. But honestly, I don't normally giggle, you know that… Ooh, I sound so stupid when I do that."

"No," Jou said slowly. "No you don't. In fact, if anything it's really… Cute when you do that. Not in the girly way or in the little kid way, but it's still," He dropped his eyes and flushed. "Cute." He paused, and then looked up again with a grin. "Hey, Yugi… You know? I really like you."

Yugi could feel the colour rising in his cheeks. "Jou? Do you—"

And whatever he was going to ask was cut off by the sound of the back door opening and a stunned silence in place of what should have been a loud greeting. And then "Jounouchi Katsuya! I am going to kiiiill yoooou!"

Jou's eyes widened at the sight of Honda running at him across the lawn and he swore again, jumping to his feet and dropping the paintbrush on the grass. "Shit, shit, shit! I'm sorry Honda, I'm sorry!"

"Watch your language, Jounouchi," Anzu said mildly, wandering towards Yugi. She peered at him curiously. "Yugi, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" He smiled at her. "I'm fine. Perfectly fine."

"Are you sure? You just looked…"

"No," His smile remained firmly in place, completely sincere. "In fact, I'm better than I've been in ages."

Anzu raised an eyebrow, but let the subject drop, instead turning to watch the friends chase each other around the backyard, their shouting echoing throughout the street.

"Honda, I'm sorry, please don't— No! Don't paint it oran— Not my hair, you fiend!"

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