Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds

A Precious Pearl

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters from the show are not mine. Any other characters and the story are mine. This takes place post-Crash Town arc, probably post-series altogether. Kalin and Radley are very close friends by this point. I used the prompt #5 - Distrust from the abandoned 5Ds_100 community on Livejournal. I also had fun poking at some of the common fanon tropes about Radley. Still baffled about the smoking one.

Satisfaction Town had been quiet for a while, to everyone's relief. Rebuilding it from Lawton's outrageous behavior had largely served to bring everyone together. Some people were still a bit standoffish, the ones who had sided with Malcolm in particular, but for the most part it was a warm and friendly place to live.

Of course, even if it didn't happen often, the town being unfriendly at all could bring one down.

Radley took the empty laundry basket into the laundry room with a quiet sigh. The dryer hadn't quite stopped, so he leaned on the wall with folded arms to wait.

He had always been well-liked in town for the most part, but now that Malcolm's threat was over and the people didn't have to rely on him to keep them safe, a few of them were being more vocal about not really liking him at all. He had really known some didn't, and yet it still hurt more than he wanted to admit. He had wanted to make this town his home, and to be liked and cared about by the people. Knowing that there were those among them who thought the worst of him weighed him down. He had hoped that in spite of whatever worldly facades he put out, people would have seen from his actions that he was nice. He had largely dropped the facades now anyway, since that had mostly been a defense against people like Malcolm.

The dryer stopped. Radley went over and opened the door, gathering the clothes into the basket. It was a large batch; he and Kalin waited too long to do the wash sometimes. He straightened, shutting the dryer door with his hip before heading for the doorway to sort the clothes.

He nearly bumped into Kalin in said doorway. Kalin looked a bit embarrassed, albeit not about that. "Did the clothes come out alright?"

"Fine," Radley said with a bit of a smirk.

Kalin found it odd that Radley was actually the more domestic between the two of them. He was more skilled with things like cooking and cleaning and doing the laundry. Kalin was more likely to drop something black into a batch of whites and grays—which was exactly what he'd done the last time he tried to do the laundry. Nothing had faded, but Radley had scolded him that it could have; one never knew when something black might do it.

"I can help sort things," Kalin said now.

"Good. I'd welcome the help," Radley said. He took the basket out to the hall and then down to his room, where he began picking out his clothes from the batch and setting them on the bed.

Kalin pawed through the basket and took out one of his shirts, brushing the other clothes off of it. They were close to the same size, so it could be easy enough to get their clothes mixed up, but they had different tastes in styles.

Radley relaxed as they worked. It was calming just to take care of this with one of his best friends. It didn't take too long to finish separating everything in the basket and he set about taking his clothes to the dresser.

Kalin put his back in the basket to take to his room next-door. "How did you learn to do things like this?" he wondered.

"I had to learn pretty quickly when I was on my own," Radley said. "And of course I made mistakes, including ones similar to what you did." He looked back over his shoulder. "Probably everyone's done that." He smiled.

"I never cared that much about learning to do it properly," Kalin said. "I was usually stuck with doing it as a kid, but my dad never gave me any guidelines. When I ran away from home, I still did it but didn't care. Then I was a Dark Signer and all of us wore black anyway. Then . . ." He shrugged. "I still didn't care."

"Dark Signers do the laundry?" Radley chuckled.

"Yeah, sometimes," Kalin said. "We'd rotate who had to do it."

"That is an amusing picture," Radley said. "An organization of evil loading the washing machine. But then I guess even an organization of evil wanted clean clothes."

Kalin couldn't quite bring himself to joke about the Dark Signers. He went over and leaned on the wall with folded arms.

Radley sighed, realizing it was understandably still a touchy subject. "I'm sorry," he said.

"You're fine," Kalin said. He paused. "So how many of the Bunch can do the wash properly?"

"All of them, I hope," Radley said wryly. "I taught those who didn't already know how when we came out here."

"You taught them a lot of things," Kalin remarked.

"I'm their big brother. I needed to," Radley said.

"You're so different from your public image," Kalin remarked. "Who ever heard of a motorcycle gang leader knowing all the ins and outs of doing the wash?"

Radley was amused. "There's a lot that's different than what people think. I've gotta say, though, the weirdest thing being strung around is that I'm a smoker. I mean, really, what?! Where did I ever give the impression that I'm going through cigarette packs like nobody's business?! Do they just think all motorcyclists are smokers or something?"

"I have no idea," Kalin said. It was quite a random rumor. "It's also strange people think you're a bar rat."

"Yeah, don't they even see the sign that says 'Diner'?!" Radley shook his head. "I know some diners serve alcohol, but ours doesn't. I think I've only been in the saloons four times, and only one of those times was to drink!" That had been out of desperation and grief when he had believed Kalin was dead, and it still hadn't worked. Radley just hated the taste of alcohol.

"You don't really try to refute any of the rumors about you," Kalin said.

"Eh. People are going to think what they want, no matter what I do," Radley said. "If they can't just look at me, see what I'm doing, and see that it's not what they're saying, what good would me saying anything do?"

". . . You're probably right," Kalin acknowledged. "But I still don't like them thinking so poorly of you."

Radley smiled a bit. "You've ended up being a pretty protective guy. There's nothing you can do to change people's minds, though."

"Maybe not," Kalin said. "But maybe I can."

"Well, at least it's just a small part of the people who think those things," Radley said. "Mostly the ones who sided with Malcolm because they believed he was right. We'd expect them to hate me, right?"

"It's not just them, though," Kalin said. "Those old gossips talk about you a lot."

Radley averted his gaze. Kalin hadn't spoken of it before, but he had been sure Kalin had heard them at times. He didn't really want to talk about it, though. "Yeah, well, we can't do anything about that."

Kalin frowned. "I know." But from the way he said it, Radley definitely had the feeling that he didn't really accept that.

Radley smiled brightly, masking his pain. "Well, let's not worry about that. It's time to go shopping with the Bunch."

Kalin winced a bit, but nodded. "Sure."

xxxx

Satisfaction Town was small, but their General Store was really quite well-stocked. Perhaps it was because of their close proximity to the City, or maybe just the shopkeeper's efficiency, but there was enough variety of merchandise that it was almost a mini discount store or a Family Dollar.

Shopping there was always interesting, especially if the entire Bunch came along. Scotch would sometimes do strange things like stand on the bottom of the cart and try to ride it until Radley or the shopkeeper Mrs. March stopped him. But they were all eager to help and often loaded the cart with a variety of items before Radley and Kalin quite knew what had happened. Kalin found it dizzying, but Radley was used to it and he was amused.

Mrs. March wasn't always so amused. "How on Earth do you take care of all of them?!" she sometimes exclaimed to Radley.

"Hey, they're not kids . . . even if some of them act like it," Radley replied. "Most of them took care of themselves for years when they shouldn't have had to. Now they just want to be happy and free, but they know when to shape up. Looking out for them isn't a burden."

And Mrs. March would smile and say, "You're a good man, Radley."

Radley usually blushed and said, "They do as much or more for me than I do for them." But Kalin could see he appreciated the acknowledgment of his kindness.

Most people in town similarly recognized Radley's and the Bunch's inherent goodness. Those who had sided with Malcolm didn't tend to like them, which wasn't surprising, but what really bothered Kalin was when others in town believed false and demeaning things about Radley. It hurt even more since he himself had thought poorly of Radley when he had come to town drowning in his self-hatred. Now he saw Radley was good and pure, and seeing others dislike him was like witnessing his own attitude from the outside. It was hard to take.

As Radley had said, he usually just let it go when people thought he smoked or drank or was immoral, not feeling he could change their minds. But the one thing that was a sore spot for him more than any other was when people believed he was corrupting the Bunch by having taken them away from their homes. Sometimes he walked off fuming. Once or twice he actually said something about it.

"They're such good boys, really," Ms. Meredith whispered to her old friend Ms. Pauline that day when they saw the large group emerge from the store. "It's a shame they have to be corrupted by that rascally man! Who knows how they'll turn out under his wing!"

Radley gripped the handle of the grocery bag, not meeting Kalin's concerned gaze. His hand shook. But instead of saying anything, he resolutely loaded the sack into the compartment of his motorcycle and drew a shaking breath. He was going to leave it alone today.

To his utter shock, it was Kalin who broke that time. He walked over to the old gossips with determination in his eyes. "They've been 'under his wing' for five years now," he said icily, "and they haven't gotten corrupted for it. They would have had a greater chance of being corrupted if they'd stayed with their drunken or abusive parents. Maybe some of them would even be dead."

The women looked flustered and embarrassed now. "Oh . . . Sheriff . . . Mayor . . . Kessler," Ms. Meredith stammered.

"We really meant no disrespect," Ms. Pauline added. "We know even you've fallen under his spell now. . . ."

"Yes, and I should have seen the goodness in him long ago," Kalin retorted. "He fought for this town for four years to save it from Malcolm! You should be grateful to him."

"Well, that was probably just because of his greed," Ms. Pauline sniffed, a bit emboldened now.

Kalin's heart twisted. How many times had he tried to rationalize the same thing about Radley's kindness? He had viewed poor Radley through such warped lenses and it would always haunt him.

"It wasn't," he said. "He cares about this town, about all of you! Why can't you see that?!"

Why didn't I see that? Why did I keep disliking him until it was almost too late?

Ms. Meredith looked uncomfortable. "People like that don't really care about anyone but themselves," she said at last.

"'People like that'?!" Kalin stared at her. "What people would that be, Ms. Meredith?!"

Ms. Meredith went completely red to be put on the spot. ". . . Gang leaders," she finally stammered. "Especially immoral ones like he is. When those horrible men of Malcolm's tried to . . ." She flushed. "To violate him, he must have done something to provoke them into it. . . ."

Kalin's patience completely snapped. "He didn't do anything," he snarled. "I was there. I saw him struggling so hard to get away. He was the victim, not the villain!"

"It's always been a worry to me that Klaus's granddaughter Belle adores him so much," Ms. Meredith went on, as though she hadn't heard. "I wouldn't want to leave her alone with him for one moment!" She shuddered. "He probably seduces young girls like that all the time. Maybe even boys too."

Disbelief and disgust flashed through Kalin's eyes. By now he knew it was useless to keep talking to them, but for some reason he couldn't make himself stop.

"He never did anything to encourage Belle," he snarled. "He always tried to avoid her so he wouldn't seem like he was encouraging her when she was too young! Honestly, you people are as bad as his family. You judge him just because he looks rebellious! It's not right. Radley is kind and good. He's the exact opposite of everything you're thinking he is! It took him dying to save Jordan's life before I finally woke up and realized what a horrible mistake I'd made. I hope you never have to experience what I did! One way or another, you're going to realize someday that you've been running down a decent person for no good reason!"

By now other townspeople were starting to gather to observe the confrontation, and Radley himself finally snapped out of his shock and hurried over to break up the scene. "Hey hey hey!" He laid a hand on Kalin's shoulder. "I appreciate you standing up for me and all, Kalin, but it's just wasted breath. That's why I don't stand up for myself." He gave Kalin a kind smile. "Let's just go now, okay?"

Kalin nodded, but continued to glower at the awkward women. "Fine." He turned, walking with Radley back to their motorcycles.

". . . You don't know how much it means to me to hear you defending me," Radley said softly. "Even though it won't do any good with them, it makes me so happy that you care about me that much now."

"I just had to say something," Kalin said. "They reminded me so much of myself. I was so cruel to you and I never should have been."

"At least you had a good reason," Radley said. "These ladies aren't drowning in self-hatred."

"They don't have any excuse for their behavior," Kalin snarled. "And despite what I said, it's obviously not about the motorcycles or the long hair or even the jewelry or they'd come down on me and the Bunch too!"

"They just don't like my personality, I guess," Radley said. "Maybe some of it's my own fault for just letting people think trashy things about me. I honestly thought I wouldn't be as likely to get hurt if I looked worldly. When I was first out on my own, I was always getting hurt because I was too naive and too 'square,' as Brittanie called me. I saw the worldly people always on top and not getting hurt. I didn't wanna be like them, but I thought maybe if I pretended, I'd get on top too. It kinda worked sometimes," he said with a shrug. "But other times it didn't so much. And I discovered things like this could happen, where people fixate on their first impressions or whatever and can't see the truth when it's right in front of them. I guess . . . I was so focused on how modern society doesn't like pure people that I forgot some people still do."

Kalin wasn't placated. "They should be able to see all that you've done for this town, for the people . . . for them! And they should be able to see that whatever worldly airs you put on are just an act! Now that my mind is clear, that's so obvious to me. I realized I was wrong. Why won't they?"

Radley gave him a sad smile. "Some people just aren't as open-minded as you, Kalin. But hey, don't worry about it. Really. They've never liked me. They probably never will." He put on his helmet and swung his right leg over his motorcycle.

Sighing, Kalin followed suit. But even though it seemed pointless, he still wished there was a way he could convince all the doubters and naysayers in town that Radley was a decent person.

xxxx

For a long time things proceeded in like manner, with Radley well-liked by most in town while a select few remained suspicious. As much as Kalin wanted to, he knew that Radley was right that nothing could really be done as long as they were bound and determined to believe that he was bad. And he could not hope to make up for the hurt he had caused Radley in the past by getting others to believe in him when they just wouldn't, so Kalin would just have to accept the current state of things.

It was much later, when they happened to be in town on another shopping trip, that they witnessed Ms. Meredith's son's rickety wagon ominously groaning from the weight of the new load from the store.

"I told him to get that thing strengthened or replaced," Kalin said in irritation. "Or better yet, to come into the 21st Century and buy a truck!"

"His mom probably doesn't want him to," Radley said, shaking his head.

Ms. Meredith was coming outside now. As she tried to climb onboard, the wagon shrieked in protest and began to splinter and crack. Ms. Meredith slipped and crashed to the ground, the wagon falling on top of her. She screamed in shock and pain. The horses whinnied, tossing their heads from side to side. They wanted to run, but they were stuck.

Kalin swore under his breath. No matter how the woman treated Radley, he couldn't just walk by and let her suffer.

Neither could Radley. He immediately snapped into action. "Marty, get the doctor," he ordered. "Scotch, calm the horses down. The rest of you guys, help me lift the wagon up enough that she can be pulled out!"

Everyone rushed to complete their missions, as they always did when Radley instructed them.

Marty took off down the street, heading for the small hospital. Passers-by stumbled out of his way, knowing he must have an important mission even though they didn't know what it was.

Scotch went to the horses, patting their noses and necks and speaking soothingly to them. They snorted, but slowly started to calm. Scotch loved animals and had always been good with them.

Ms. Meredith stared in shock as the other motorcycle gang members worked hard with Kalin and Radley to heave the wagon up. With all of them pulling together, it actually lifted.

Radley dropped to his knees beside her. "Ms. Meredith, is anything broken?"

"N-No, I don't think so," she stammered. "I can move everything. . . ."

"Okay then. Excuse me for this, but I have to get you out." Radley got his hands under her arms and pulled her out from under the wagon's shadow. When she was free, Kalin and the Bunch let it go with a collective gasp.

Ms. Meredith grimaced in pain. "Nothing may be broken, but I'm afraid it feels like I'm still hurt. . . ." she said.

Radley was already inspecting her. "It's your leg," he said. "You're bleeding badly!"

"Oh. . . ." Ms. Meredith went red and cringed as Radley touched her wounded leg, but it was quickly obvious that he had no ill intentions and was simply trying to stop the bleeding. She slowly started to relax.

"You're going to be alright, Ms. Meredith," Radley encouraged her as he pressed a clean cloth over the deep cut. "Marty's gone for the doctor."

She stared at him in stunned awe. "But . . . why?" she whispered. "I've never been kind to you. . . ."

Radley sighed. "You still needed help," he replied. "I was here. That's all there is to it."

". . . You're such a nice man," she said softly. "I really have gravely misjudged you, haven't I? And I've tried to get others to feel the same way. . . ."

"Well, then if you're sorry at all, and grateful for the help, maybe you'd do me the teeny-tiny favor of just . . . not badmouthing me anymore?" Radley said with a small smile.

"Oh . . . of course," she exclaimed.

"Thanks," Radley said quietly.

Marty ran up with the doctor. "Here she is," he gasped to the man in between breaths.

The doctor knelt down next to Ms. Meredith. "Well, now, let's see what we've got here," he said.

Radley waited to move until he was sure he wasn't needed any longer to put pressure on the wound. He straightened and stepped back.

"Everything has been just fine," Ms. Meredith said. "Radley had everything under control. He's such a nice young man. We're all lucky to have had him here with us."

The doctor's eyes flickered with his surprise, but he smiled, pleased at her change of heart. "We are indeed," he agreed.

Kalin quirked an eyebrow. "Do you think this is really going to last?" he skeptically asked.

"I don't know," Radley admitted. "I hope so."

And last it did. Ms. Meredith not only stopped badmouthing Radley, she started singing his praises and trying to encourage everyone she had misled that she had been wrong.

"I can't believe I believed those ridiculous rumors!" she exclaimed to Ms. Pauline several days later. "Of course they can't be true! He was completely the proper gentleman in every way! And there was no smell of smoke about him. He couldn't possibly smoke!"

"It does sound like he's the opposite of everything we thought," Ms. Pauline conceded.

"Well," Radley chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck after hearing Ms. Meredith gush about him, "I guess my 'fanclub' got some new members."

"I guess so," Kalin said. Smiling, he added, "Completely deserved."

Radley smiled too. As nice as it was to not have to hear townspeople putting him down, what he loved the most was knowing that Kalin cared about him now.

"I'm glad you feel that way," he said.

"So am I," Kalin said. He hesitated. "One reason it hurt so much to hear what they were saying about you was because I'd acted like that myself. I heard many of my old thoughts flung back in my face. It was . . . hard to take. I was so wrong about you. . . ."

Radley looked at him, touched. "Kalin . . . that's all over now. I forgave you long ago."

"I know," Kalin said. "But I haven't forgiven myself."

Radley drew an arm around him. "I hope someday you will."

Kalin leaned into his arm. "Maybe someday."