Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I associated with, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Author's note: We're all amazed that I finally updated this. Trust me.
Jaden didn't wake up the morning of the duel with the cliche feeling of impending doom and anxiety he had expected. Instead, he woke up to the sound of someone knocking rather angrily at the door and Chazz demanding sleepily that he go open it.
"Why can't you get up and open it Chazz? I say we just let whoever it is tire themselves out and go away." Jaden rolled over to look at the clock on their dresser. "It's only eight thirty."
Chazz's response was in the form of a pillow to Jaden's face. "Answer the door, Jaden," he all but growled. "It might be my brothers on the other side and we both know we don't want to make them mad."
Chazz had a point there. And although he would rather stay curled up in his bed, Jaden knew better than to answer Chazz back. The other boy had been up until practically dawn- well, they both had, but it had mostly been because Chazz couldn't sleep. He was nervous, and Jaden knew it, and Chazz knew Jaden knew it, but he wouldn't admit to it- and so altogether they had gotten about five hours of sleep at most. Not exactly the kind of start Jaden had wanted on the day of the Duel That Will Determine My Love Life.
At the same time, if that was the last night he got to spend with Chazz, the loss of sleep was entirely worth it.
So as much as he didn't want to, Jaden threw back the covers, got up, and shuffled over to the door. Chazz buried himself deeper amongst the pillows and peeked out from his cocoon as Jaden smoothed down his hair and opened the door.
On the other side stood a very peeved Zane, in full Duel Academy uniform, with his arms crossed against his chest.
"About time you answered. You know how many texts Chazz's brothers have sent me?" Zane flashed Jaden the screen of the phone, full of the names Slade and Jagger. "They wanted to see him at their room in what was," He looked at the time on the screen, "ten minutes ago. I suggest he gets up and gets going."
They both knew Chazz could hear them from where he was lying, so the panicked noise he made came as no surprise. When Jaden turned back around, all he saw of the other boy was the tail end of his pajamas disappearing into the bathroom.
"Well. I'll tell them that he's on his way." Zane paused. "Good luck today. To both of you. I won't see you until afterwards, probably." He looked down at his phone again, "If it looks like you're going to win early on, make it a hard fight. His brothers don't know any more than the basics of dueling, and if it looks like Chazz had you on the ropes the entire time, they won't know the difference between the truth and acting."
Zane turned to leave. "But of course, I'm not underestimating Chazz," he said over his shoulder. "There's a reason he was the top ranked freshman. Don't make him feel bad if he absolutely destroys you."
With his parting words said, Zane took his leave. Jaden stood at the door for a moment, mostly to let everything that had been said to him sink still hadn't made the decision as to whether or not he would cheat, and as terrible as it sounded, Zane's words had reminded him that Chazz was more than capable of winning the duel himself. Without Jaden weakening his deck.
At that moment Chazz burst back out of the bathroom door. His hair was still sticking up haphazardly on one side. He rushed over to their dresser and began tearing through one of the top drawers in search of pants. He flung the other clothes to the floor in a mad scramble to find what he was looking for faster. Chazz was in the middle of pulling on his pants when Jaden came to sit behind him. He pulled the other boy into his lap and smoothed down Chazz's hair despite the valiant struggle he was putting up.
"Jaden, let me go! I have to meet my brothers in, like, negative fifteen minutes from now."
Chazz looked stressed. His eyes were wider than normal and they had a crazed look in them that Jaden knew immediately to be worry. His jacket hung off his shoulder at an angle that at any other day would be totally unacceptable.
"Chazzy, sweetie, I just wanted to say that I love you, and good luck with your brothers today, and if I don't see you before we duel, good luck on that too. You will do amazing, and no matter the outcome you will be fine, and your brothers will be fine, and I will not let them do anything to you." Jaden said, and punctuated it with a kiss to Chazz's nose.
He looked his boyfriend right in the eye and held Chazz's hand to his chest. Chazz was staring right at him, having ceased his struggling, and Jaden took the opportunity to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around Chazz and pulled him in closer and tried not to get lost in the feel of Chazz in his lap and against his lips.
"Mm, Jaden, I really have to go." Chazz pulled away and looked to the door worriedly. He gave Jaden a sheepish look and stood from the bed. Jaden stood too, fixing the shoulder of Chazz's jacket and smoothing down Chazz's hair as the other boy put on his shoes.
There was some kind of deep worry in Jaden's eyes, Chazz had noticed, that for perhaps the first time in their relationship had Chazz feeling like he was the one who needed to give the comfort. With both his shoes successfully on, Chazz took his hand off the doorknob to pull Jaden in close. Their kiss lasted for just a few seconds, and when they broke apart Chazz leaned his forehead against Jaden's and whispered, "good luck today too, Jaden. I love you, so much. Always. It'll be fine, just like you said. I promise."
He gave his boyfriend one last hug and a reassuring smile. The familiarity of it all- of the Slifer dorm and the terrible view of the rest of campus and the way Jaden felt pressed up against him- made Chazz want to cry. He just hoped Jaden couldn't see it.
Jaden's usual humor had seeped from his body; as much as he tried, there was nothing funny to say to lighten the mood. Something ominous had settled over the both of them as soon as Chazz's fingers left the sleeve of Jaden's jacket. The duel that they had tried so hard to push off was here, looming above them.
Jaden was worried. For the duel, for Chazz and his day with his brothers, for himself and the the decision he still had to make. He wished one of his cards could freeze time for a little while; give him and Chazz just a few more hours to sit together and pretend like nothing was wrong. There was something off, something more unsettling than the duel, that coiled in Jaden's chest and squeezed him tight. He didn't understand it at first, until he caught a glimpse of a black jacket. Then it all made sense.
When Jaden watched his boyfriend hurry down the path, he couldn't help but feel that maybe this was the last time he would see Chazz leave his dorm.
"So you will be using the cards we gave you this time, won't you?"
Chazz tried not to look up at Slade, who was standing rather intimidatingly over him. A briefcase of cards, the same ones from the first school duel, lay ominously on a table off to the side.
"Jaden already knows the cards you use. He's expecting them. Probably has a strategy devised around them by now."
"I added some cards to my deck. Made it stronger." Chazz said. His voice was weaker than he had expected it to. Or wanted it to, for that matter.
The four of them- Slade, Jagger, Chazz and Zane- were sitting in the living room of the Princeton brother's suite. From where he sat, Chazz could see the top of the dueling arena. It made him slightly sick, to think that in a few short hours he would be back inside, under the careful scrutiny of not only his brothers, but his classmates for the first time since he had arrived back on the island. The whole prospect gave him nerves that he had never experienced before; through all his years of dueling, even in the school duel, nothing made him quite as nervous as this.
Chazz knew why. But he didn't like to dwell on it. His insecurities had started to surface again, especially during the walk to his brothers. He felt torn; on one hand, if he won, he would earn back the approval of his brothers. He would regain his former glory and get the respect he had had as the top freshman. He would be back in Obelisk Blue, maybe even become the top student of the school, and his path to the pro leagues would be paved. But if he lost, he would stay with Jaden. Buried deep in the back of his mind, Chazz was deathly afraid that Jaden would leave him if he returned to the Blues. He knew that the idea was rather foolish, Jaden loved him no matter what his rank was; but at the same time, the separation could lead Jaden to resent him. There were too many factors with too many outcomes for Chazz's mind to relax, which in turn gave him that heart racing, can't-sit-down-because-I'm-so-nervous energy.
"But they're not as strong as the cards we bought you." Jagger's voice had a poisonous edge to it. If Chazz had to guess, he had been the one commissioned to organize the purchase of the cards and would be rather upset if Chazz didn't use them. "Jaden has only seen these cards in his dreams. You'll crush him in two turns with them."
"But I don't know them," Chazz replied. "I don't know what works together well enough."
Zane stood off to the side, silently watching the exchange between the two brothers. Slade and Jagger had always liked him, hence the sponsorship they were still offering him, so they had invited him to stay with them for the day before the duel. Zane had agreed, more out of his brotherly instinct to protect Chazz than his willingness to spend the day with the two oldest Princeton brothers. He had never truly seen the three of them together, and he would be lying if he said he hadn't wanted to see just how dysfunctional they were. It was unfortunate, Zane thought, that two of the most brilliant men in the world were so terrible to their younger brother.
"What do you think, Zane?" Slade interrupted. He had moved to sit on the couch across from Chazz, who was extremely relieved and allowed himself to relax a little in his chair. The oldest Princeton's cool grey eyes moved to focus on the Obelisk boy.
"I think he should do whatever feels right to him. Yes Jaden knows Chazz's cards already, but the order of those cards changes entirely every time Chazz duels. There's no way Jaden would be able to conceive a winning strategy before the duel has even started." He gestured to the cards on the table, "and while the cards you offered him are obviously stronger, Chazz is used to the cards in his normal deck. That familiarity will allow him to play each hand to his advantage. Jaden is a rather formidable opponent. If Chazz knows the in's and out's of every card he holds, he'll have a solution to whatever Jaden throws at him."
It clearly was not the answer that the oldest Princeton brothers had wanted to hear. Jagger's eyebrow twitched and his mouth twisted into a pained expression. He didn't say anything- miraculously, Zane thought- as he brought his hand down on top of the briefcase. It shut with a decisive snap.
"I trust that you know what you're talking about. More than Chazz does." Jagger said. His eyes narrowed like he was trying to intimidate Zane into changing his mind. The insult to his younger brother was lost on no one in the room, and Zane watched from the corner of his eye as Chazz's face turned red and he sank deeper into his seat.
"Chazz knows exactly what he's talking about." Zane replied. Jagger sneered and opened his mouth to say something in return, but Slade held up a hand to stop him.
"Yes, Chazz is a brilliant duelist. He just had an off day. But everyone does, so he really can't be blamed." Slade gave them a sickly sweet smile. "Our little brother has had time to relax, and now he's in better shape than ever to destroy Jaden Yuki, aren't you Chazz?"
The three of them looked to the youngest in the room, who nodded hesitantly before shifting his gaze to his hands in his lap.
"Last time Jaden won on a mistake, which is why we would much rather you used the cards we bought for you this time, Chazz," Slade said "But if you two say that Jaden will have no advantage against your old deck, then we believe you."
Chazz flinched. His shoulders tightened almost imperceptibly and he leaned away from his brothers in such a smooth motion that at first Zane thought he was simply shifting positions. Zane was almost positive that Chazz had just thought about what Slade and Jagger would do if he lost the duel.
"Enough about the cards," Jagger snapped. He was obviously still upset about the time he had wasted getting the cards together. "We have a gift for you Chazz. In anticipation of your win."
Jagger was smiling, actually smiling. There was a giddy excitement on his face that Zane had never seen before; and- judging by his expression- neither had Chazz.
"What?" Chazz squeaked. He looked like he was seriously contemplating the chances of this being a joke, what with the way he narrowed his eyes and leaned forward slightly.
"You are going to be an Obelisk again Chazz; we had to make sure you were dressed for the part." Jagger had made his way over to the closet in the corner of the room by this point. He stuck his head in and shuffled something around for a moment before emerging with a beautiful royal blue coat in his arms. It was wrapped in a shiny plastic covering, dry cleaned and pressed into utter perfection. Everyone in the room knew immediately what it was.
"You had my jacket fixed?" Chazz squeaked. His voice had risen an octave and was stuck somewhere between horror and disbelief, Zane decided.
Jagger laid the coat in his brother's lap proudly. "Of course not," he said. "Why go through the trouble of fixing it when we could just buy another one? Much easier. No having to search through your things to find it, for one. And this is a new start, Chazz. A start of no more failures. You're on your way to the big leagues now, little brother. It's like you're starting over. No room for anything from the past."
Chazz stared at it. It felt surreal to be holding the Obelisk jacket, and he didn't know how much he liked that. A part of his mind told him that he should be disappointed; how far had he fallen to be surprised he was allowed a chance back in the top? Hesitantly, disbelievingly, he unzipped the plastic covering and took the jacket out. He held it up in front of him, running a finger over the shiny gold buttons and the pristine white trim that was cleaner than that of his old jacket had ever been.
"Shepard should have never been allowed to take this away from you," Slade said. He was in the middle of a rant, Chazz could tell, with the malicious gleam to his eyes. "Losing may be your fault, but how will Shepard feel when he realizes that he made enemies of his best student and his brothers? We should have had him sued, Jagger. Call the lawyer. No one makes a fool of the Princeton brothers."
Zane laughed under his breath. Chazz switched his gaze between the Obelisk boy and Slade and realized, for the first time, that maybe Slade and Jagger were a little bit too happy about the upcoming duel. A bottle of red wine lay empty on it's side on the coffee table, and another half-full one was sitting beside a pair of two full wine glasses. Jagger, who was the better off of the two, squinted his eyes and raised a hand in Zane's direction.
"Don't you love the jacket, Chazz?" Jagger asked. That happy, self content smile was still on his face. When Chazz nodded, he beamed even more and laughed. "Good."
The duel arena was packed. Students streamed through the doors in groups, all equally excited to see the rematch. News had spread quickly of Slade and Jagger, and Chazz's prospective prize; Syrus wouldn't be shocked if they had come for the drama as much as the duel.
It was like the whole school had turned out for the occasion, and somehow Jaden had still managed to be late.
Syrus stood nervously off to the side, checking his phone every ten seconds. Jaden had to be backstage in five minutes, and Syrus had yet to see a sign of his best friend. They had agreed to meet in this spot in front of the arena so that Syrus could give Jaden his pre-duel pep talk.
Jaden had been a mess all morning. He refused a trip to the cafeteria -Syrus had had to bring him food, and wasn't that was a first- and had built himself a nest of pillows and blankets on his bed. He had wanted to be alone so he could come up with a solution to the problem that was plaguing his mind.
The more that people passed by the more Syrus's nerves grew. Visions of Chazz standing on the dual platform alone, of the audience's confusion, and then of Jaden rushing in, out of breath, not embarrassed in the slightest, flashed through Syrus's mind. Jaden wasn't one to get flustered by being late, and at any other time Syrus wouldn't have worried, but this was a big deal. He just hoped the other boy hadn't gotten so caught up in his thoughts that he wasn't keeping track of the time.
"Sy! I'm here!" A very, very familiar voice grew louder from behind him. Syrus turned to see Jaden running up the path with his duel disk on his arm and his cards in one hand.
"It's about time you got here!" Syrus exclaimed. He sounded flustered and very mother-hen like. "You have three minutes to get backstage before Shepard hunts you down."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry late, I couldn't," Jaden bent over at this point to catch his breath before carrying on. "I couldn't leave until I looked perfect. For Chazz."
When Jaden looked back up his eyes were dull. He looked tired and drained and the sadness was palpable. Syrus didn't have the heart to tell him that he had messed up his hair running here.
"It's okay," Syrus smiled. It was for Jaden's sake; inside he was growing more and more worried as the time ticked by. "Let's just go inside. You can sit down for a few minutes and catch your breath and get yourself together."
He took Jaden's arm and steered him in the direction of the doors. "How are you feeling? Did you come to a conclusion yet?"
Jaden just sighed and lowered his head.
"I feel like I'm getting married, Sy, is that weird?"
Jaden had brightened considerably since they had made it backstage. Something about the atmosphere had kicked Jaden's love of dueling into drive and he was finally starting to relax. Now he was standing in front of the closed doors that opened into the duel arena. Syrus was sitting off to the side playing games on his phone, but he looked up when Jaden spoke.
"What are you talking about?" Syrus asked and gave Jaden a rather baffled look. He had no idea what the other boy was talking about.
"I feel like I'm getting married. I haven't seen Chazz all day. It's like he's the bride and he had to leave to get ready. Can't see the bride before the duel," Jaden laughed. "Now we're sitting here waiting for the dual to start, and you're here and obviously you'll be at my wedding as the best man. It just seems very similar in a weird way is all. Except obviously if this was a wedding it wouldn't be a dual, and we would be happy and not worried. And-"
"And I don't think you should say that in front of Chazz. How do you think he'll react to being called your bride?" Syrus interrupted his friend before he could say anything that would dampen the mood. He knew Jaden had been getting to the area of "and we wouldn't be deciding the future of Chazz's Duel Academy career."
Jaden thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. "You're probably right, Sy," he laughed. "Chazz would hate that. Either way it still feels like a wedding to me."
Jaden paused. "I hope when I do get married, it's to Chazz." He said this quietly, almost too low for Syrus to hear. It made something in Syrus hurt; he felt a sudden rush of guilt. Seeing Jaden standing there with a fragile smile on his face made Syrus realize how much he loved the boy. He felt bad for the things he had said, for the pain he had caused both of the boys in the relationship.
"Jaden Yuki, it's time to go." The voice startled both of the boys out of their thoughts. A assistant with a clipboard and headset was leafing through his papers. "Good luck."
The assistant hit the button to open the door with a bored expression. Syrus moved to take his place next to Jaden and whispered, "good luck. I believe in you" just before they both stepped out into the arena.
The first thing Syrus took in was the sheer amount of people. Obelisks, Ras, and Slifers alike were intermingled in the crowd. They cheered excitedly when they saw Jaden. The next thing he noticed was Slade and Jagger sitting in the middle of the crowd, facing Jaden, next to Shepard and Zane. As always they wore their fancy suits and haughty expressions, but this time they smiled and turned to talk to each other every few moments. They kept looking down at Chazz, and their glances drew Syrus's eyes down to the black haired boy too.
Unsurprisingly Chazz was the first thing that Jaden had looked at. And at just about the same time that Syrus looked at the boy, he heard Jaden gasp beside him. And the surprise was valid, because Syrus was shocked to see it too.
There was Chazz, standing on the dual platform looking as confident and haughty as his brothers. His hair was perfect and his eyes darted around the stands. He looked relaxed, like he was in his element, but that was far from what had caught Syrus and Jaden's attention. Jaden's eyes widened.
Chazz Princeton was wearing an Obelisk Blue jacket.
The duel went about as planned. Chazz and Jaden exchanged dramatic, crowd pleasing insults. They called upon spell cards and traps and negated each other's strategies like they had been born to do so.
Syrus had moved to the stands to sit with Alexis and Bastion and the rest, whom he had made up with about the same day as he had with Jaden. Whispers were still circulating the stands about Chazz's new outfit choice, and Syrus found himself incapable of looking away from the blue distraction. Chazz had looked uncomfortable in it for the first few turns, but by this point he was immersed in the game. Everything else seemed to disappear.
Jaden was losing. Up in the stands, Slade and Jagger were looking more and more excited. Syrus couldn't see Jaden's face, but the strategies he was using were legitimate; they weren't dumbed down or executed poorly. There was no way he was letting Chazz win this.
Something so malicious gleamed in Chazz's eyes that for a moment he looked like a miniature version of his brothers. "Aren't you ready to give up, Jaden? You only have 300 life points left," he laughed. "It's okay, you can admit I'll win. The Chazz is back!" He raised a fist in the air and parts of the crowd cheered.
Chazz's smile ran from ear to ear. He looked so happy, and like he was a little surprised that people were cheering for him.
"Now get ready for my Armed Dragon to destroy you, and end this duel! Hello Obelisk Blue!" He thrust his hand out in front of him to point to Jaden.
Chazz's boyfriend was staying perfectly calm. "Chazzy, you know it's okay to lose, right?"
The crowd went silent.
"What? What are you talking about?" Chazz's voice was shrill. He kept his body language rather relaxed, but Syrus saw his eyes dart to the face down card on Jaden's side of the field. "There's no way I'm losing this Slacker, face it."
Jaden shrugged. "If that's what you say." He took a breath and then smiled. "Alright then. I activate my trap card The Warrior Returning Alive to add Elemental Hero back to my hand. Then I'll play Polymerization to combine Avian and Burstinatrix to fusion summon my good friend Elemental Hero Flame Wingman in attack mode!"
Chazz scoffed. "That won't do anything for you, Jaden. I know you're trying, but there's no way you're coming back from this."
Syrus could see Slade and Jagger look at each other and smirk. They thought that Jaden was done for.
"Jaden isn't done yet, is he?" Alexis asked. They all knew the answer to that, but only Bastion responded with a confident "of course not."
"When I activate my facedown card Miracle Kids, I can target one of your monsters on the field and decrease its attack points by 400 for each Hero Kid in my graveyard." He paused and made a show of counting on his fingers the number of Hero Kid's he had. "That's three, Chazzy, which means your Armed Dragon level 7's attack points drop to 1600!"
Chazz, for his part, looked relatively terrified. He knew, just like everyone else, what was about to happen. He twitched and Syrus just knew that he was trying to avoid turning to look at his brothers. Which was just as well, because they looked absolutely furious. Syrus actually felt bad for the guy. What they had done to him at the school duel looked like it was about to become the pre-equal to the real main event.
"Now, Elemental Hero Flame Wingman! Attack Chazz and end this dual!"
Chazz turned just in time to see his dragon disappear in a holographic explosion. The life points counter echoed through the arena, filling the room with the loud electronic buzz as it hit zero. The crowd was silent. No one cheered.
Chazz collapsed. He caught himself on his hands and knees just before he face planted into the floor. The blue jacket billowed out around him.
Slade and Jagger looked icy calm. They didn't move, didn't say anything to each other, but the way their jaws were set told Syrus that they were far beyond angry. They stood in harmony and made their way out of the stands and down the stairs. Zane had tried to stop them, but Slade had put a hand on his shoulder and told him rather icily, it looked like, to sit back down. Zane did so, even though he looked majorly concerned, and the two brothers disappeared out of the doors to the arena.
On the ground, Chazz's shoulders began to shake like he was crying. Jaden was still standing, but his head was down like he was staring at his boyfriend. Neither of them moved. Jaden took a shaky breath. Still no one talked.
It was a terrible sense of deja vu for Chazz. He couldn't bring himself to look up at the crowd, or Jaden, or to even stand from the spot he was curled up in. He, Chazz Princeton, once top freshman of Duel Academy and aspiring pro duelist, had lost. Again.