IM NOT DEAD-

aka, it's been a whole hell of a while skhdgklj

A lot of things have been going on, and I don't have a set update schedule either, so mix that together and we get really long gaps between updates sdkhglkj plus I'm really invested in yttd so hahaaaa

Anyways, that's enough about me, I'm finally here with another chapter that took WAY too long kshdlkgj

Sickness

"Jeez, Sho, what did you do to get this sick?" Judai asked, inspecting the thermometer. Sho mumbled something unintelligible, snuggling further into his blankets.

"Not really sure," Ryo said, shaking his head. "He doesn't get sick that often, so this is new."

Judai smirked fondly, placing a hand on Sho's head and ruffling his hair. "Can confirm, he never really got sick."

Ryo huffed in amusement. "Anyways, Judai, I think it's best if you headed off for now. I can take care of him, and you still have a few things to do here, don't you?"

"Kaiser, I'm not leaving until Sho is better," the former Osiris Red deadpanned, giving Ryo a small smile. "I know what you think of me, but he's literally my boyfriend."

"Which I still don't quite approve of," Ryo muttered, eliciting a weak laugh from Sho. "Either way, I don't need you getting sick and Sho worrying to death over you, so if you could...?"

Smiling, Judai's eyes narrowed at Ryo, flickering once, twice, before fading to brown. "My answer is clear, as always," he said calmly, shifting himself to a more upright position. "I'm not leaving."

"Stubborn, aren't we," Ryo sighed, shaking his head. "Judai, I can take care of him. I'm his older brother."

"You certainly didn't act like it," Judai quipped, lips quirking up with Ryo chuckled at the mention. "And again, I'm his boyfriend, I'm going to take care of him whether you let me or not."

"Overprotective."

"I could say the same about you."

Judai and Ryo stared at each other, both eyes unforgiving, unwilling to let up. Sparks flew, and Ryo reached into his pocket, Judai reached into his own, and-

"Get out of my room, both of you!" Sho yelled, his voice raspy from his cold. He struggled to sit up, to Judai's amusement, before grabbing his pillow. "Out, out!"

He batted Judai away, who laughed and got up, backing away from he vengeful pillow. Then, with surprising accuracy, Sho chucked the pillow at his brother, which smacked his shoulder softly with a paff.

"Get out!" Sho yelled again, fumbling for his glasses. "Judai, you better not get sick, and Ryo, if you even consider getting sick, I swear I'll-"

Laughing, Judai grabbed the pillow and tossed it back at Sho, dragging Ryo out of the room as it connected with the sick man's face. The door shut as Sho shouted something lined with curse words.

"...Well, that went well."

"If only I could say that."

"Lighten up, Kaiser!"

Theory

"Asuka?"

Asuka glances over, meeting Judai's eyes. "What's wrong?" he asks, tilting his head. "You look kinda down."

"Oh, do I? Sorry," she apologizes, giving a short laugh. "It's not that I'm down, or anything. It's just... kind of weird."

"What is?" Johan interjects, plopping down next to the two. Asuka startles and laughs, shaking her head.

"Should've known you'd be around if Judai was here," she says, glancing between the two. "It's just... I haven't seen my brother at all."

"Oh yeah, weird," Judai says, scratching the back of his head. "Fubuki was at school, right?"

Asuka nods, drumming her fingers on the floor. "All of the students got thrown into this world with us, so where did he go...?"

Johan smiles. "Maybe he's off with his girls or something."

Judai laughs at the possibility. "Sounds like Fubuki," he agrees, looking over at Asuka. "You know him the best, though. What do you think?"

"Fubuki would've told me if he was going somewhere," she says, exhaling. "And there aren't any girls here either, so... you know what, I do think he went somewhere else with 'his girls.'"

(She can almost hear his laughter and his ukulele.)

Johan bursts out laughing, followed by Judai, and suddenly she's laughing too. It's nice, smiling and talking like normal in such a tense situation.

Perhaps they could go back to normal soon.

Infatuation

"Stay away from him!"

Asuka honestly had no idea what was going on.

Being challenged to a duel? She could handle that. Being insulted? That too.

Being accused of dating Kaiser Ryo was a new one.

She wanted to laugh, really. Out of everyone, her? Dating Ryo?

She sighed instead, drawing a card. "First of all," she began, examining Polymerization, "I'm not dating him."

Ran blanched, before straightening up with a furious expression. "Who else would he be?!" she yelled back, placing a hand over her locket. "He's mine, so don't even try!"

Asuka's eye twitched. "He's not dating anyone. We're just friends!"

"Then how come you two spend so much time together?"

"Because he's my friend!" she replied firmly, slapping Polymerization down on her duel disk. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. "I suggest you try and talk to him first before making random accusations!"

She smiled coldly as Blade Skater appeared on the field.

"He'd appreciate it, I'm sure."

Realize

"I am so tired."

Sho flops over onto the grass, facing the night sky. White dots twinkle at him cheerfully, smiling down at him through the quiet.

Ryo sits down next to him, upright. When the younger Marufuji glances over, Ryo's looking up at the stars too.

"How does Asuka keep up with Fubuki?" Sho puffs out, stretching his limbs out. "He's so chaotic..."

"They're siblings. And it's surprising you can't keep up with them. Haven't you been hanging out with Fubuki for three years?" Ryo asks in amusement.

"Two," Sho corrects, "the first year doesn't really count."

"Fair enough."

The two sit in comfortable silence. It's nice, taking a break from the Tenjoin siblings and just being in silence.

Sho had almost forgotten this feeling.

"...I'm glad we decided to come."

With a smile, Sho nods, staring at the sky. "Me too," he says simply, before shutting his eyes.

Words get stuck in his throat, but he doesn't say anything else.

Ryo doesn't either.

Reunion

"Yo, Manjome! It's been a while!"

Manjome spins around, meeting the eyes of a very familiar Johan Andersen.

He scowls, adjusting his jacket and glaring at him. "Andersen," he says, crossing his arms. "So you're one of the transfer students."

"Is that the way to greet your friend?" Johan asks, pouting. It's eerily similar to Judai's pout. "And I thought I asked you to call me 'Johan.'"

"And I thought I told you you're not worth calling by your first name," Manjome snaps, crossing his arms. "Who said we were friends?!"

Johan chuckles, placing a hand on his hip. Ruby Carbuncle circles around his shoulder, mewing softly.

"I thought it was a given, seeing how often we hung out at North," he says, scratching the back of his head. He grins brightly. "Long time no see, huh?"

"It's been two- three years, we're not friends," Manjome sighs, although he holds a hand out for the other to shake.

"What are we, rivals?" Johan asks, amusement in his tone as he takes the outstretched hand.

"No, Judai's my rival. You're just..."

"A friend?"

Manjome glares at Johan, yanking his hand back. "As if," he snorts unconvincingly. "Why would I care about you?"

Johan shakes his head, shooing Ruby off, who skitters up Manjome's shoulder. He yelps and tries to shake it off, although it doesn't work.

"Weren't you the one who said we were friends?"

"What?! No, that was you! You're the dork, not me!"

The teal haired duelist just grins as Ruby jumps over to his shoulder again. "Uh huh, sure," he says with a laugh. "Love ya, Manjome."

"I hate you!"

Enough

Ryo's not quite sure how he got here.

Well, that's not true. He knows how he got here. Taking walks at night calms him, and he likes the lighthouse by the beach.

He doesn't know why Sho, of all people, is here.

If anything, he was expecting Asuka to be by here, but Sho?

It wasn't unwelcome or anything, he's just a little surprised.

He's silent, though. There's no point in alerting Sho that he's here.

His footsteps are quiet as he stands next to the lighthouse. Around it, Sho's quiet voice whispers words his brother can't hear.

He catches a couple words, like 'enough' and 'no,' but that's it. Ryo furrows his brows at them, mulling over his thoughts.

They spiral into possible sentences, and the older Marufuji brother exhales sharply.

"...Onii-san?!"

There's sounds of Sho scrambling up, and footsteps. Ryo glances over to see Sho with red eyes and barely visible tear tracks on his cheeks.

"What are you...?"

Time seems to freeze for a second. Ryo stares at the disheveled Sho, swallowing words like 'I'm sorry,' or even an 'I love you.'

In this moment, Sho Marufuji isn't strong. He never was.

So maybe...

He reaches out and pats Sho's head, a slight smile on his face.

"Good job," he says quietly, hoping that's all Sho needs.

Befriend

Judai fidgets nervously, under the young Marufuji's gaze.

Or is it over? He doesn't question it, just looking anywhere but the prince's face.

"...I-I'm Judai Yuki. Sir!" He internally swears at the stutter and tacks on the 'sir' at the end. "Your highness! I-I'm sorry, I have no idea what to call you."

He's making a complete fool of himself, but what can he do? It's not like he asked for this.

The young prince picks at his robe and nods, glancing away. "...I'm Sho," he says, casting his eyes down at the ground. "You knew that already, right?"

Judai nods hurriedly, rolling his shoulders back and scratching the back of his head. "Yeah- I mean, yes I did."

"It's alright! You don't need to be so formal," Sho says quickly, looking up and shaking his head. He adjusts his glasses and they stand in silence for a moment.

Taking some deep breaths, Judai outstretches a hand.

"It's an honor to be your knight," he says quickly, his arm shaking. He gives a shaky smile, praying he didn't mess up.

Sho stares at the hand like it's an alien, and for a moment, Judai nearly shrinks back.

I'm screwed, I'm screwed, I'm screwed-

There's a quiet sniff, and Judai blinks.

"Thank you," Sho says, wiping his eyes. He accepts Judai's hand and shakes it lightly, smiling brightly.

A beat of silence passes, and Judai lets a bigger grin spread on his face.

"Nice to meet you, Sh- your highness-?"

"Just Sho is fine," Sho says, pushing his glasses up with a nod.

Judai nods, his excitement sparking for the first time in this meeting.

"Well then! Nice to meetcha, Sho!"

Observe

Watching Edo duel was exhilarating, to say the least.

There was just something about the way he carried himself, the way he set up his combos- it was just satisfying to watch him obliterate his opponents.

Asuka, for one, loved dueling against him. It was just as interesting as dueling Judai, even if it was the complete opposite of how he dueled.

While Judai dueled with emotion and instinct, Edo dueled with cold hard logic.

Dueling was one thing, but watching was fun too.

It was almost funny, how fast Edo could tear down his opponents, taunting them through the duel. In the Pro Leagues, the audience ate it up, laughing and cheering at every quip, every insult.

It wasn't like Asuka was different. She loved watching the verbal fights, the absolute smack downs Edo delivered.

She sits on her couch, examining every detail she can catch through the TV. Of him, of the opponent's face as they're destroyed.

(She's not cruel. It's just... fun.)

As the opponent's life points hit zero, Edo raises his hand, and the deafening cheers from the audience plays.

Asuka lets a smile curl up on her face, raising her own hand.

"Congrats," she says, like she always does.

He doesn't need to hear her.

AAAA FINALLY- I DIDNT GET THROUGH ALL OF THE REQUESTS BUT CLOSE ENOUGH?

ILL GET TO THE ONES I DIDNT NEXT TIME LOL

All of these were a lot shorter than normal, so I'm sorry xD I'll definitely try to make these longer next time!

til next time, whenever that is!