Story Name: Frills
Written: June 9th, 2012, Word Count: 620
He felt him before he saw him.
Jounouchi is convinced that Kaiba is one of the cruelest bastards he has ever had the displeasure of meeting. So when Yugi's glare takes on a fierce edge and his voice becomes laced with barely contained malice, he thinks it is completely justified. His voice unusually cold, almost hollow, booms across the arena - and he knows that voice, because it was once his own, it's the voice of a man who has nothing to lose; it's the one he'd used in the "old days", before Yugi.
Any unease that had surrounded Yugi prior to the duel had completely vanished replaced by an almost intimidating air of confidence. And somewhere in the back of his mind, Jounouchi thinks this doesn't match up; this new confident demeanor and the timid Yugi he knows.
But any other explanation is ridiculous, not to mention impossible. Because it's just Yugi up on that dueling platform, and logic dictates that its well, Yugi.
And by the next moment he's too lost in the game to give it another thought.
Except.
Except it was completely and utterly right in ways he could never have imagined.
He wakes to find himself now six inches tall, wearing a dress and being ogled by giant versions of Bakura and Yugi, which really, he could accept if it weren't for the equally confused look on Yugi's face – the real Yugi – when he too is summoned to the field as the Dark Magician only moments later.
And for goodness-sake why didn't he ever notice the Flame Swordsman wears a dress? (Because this is seriously one fashion statement better left in theory)
But right now, all Jounouchi knows is that they can't afford to lose this duel because it turns out giant Bakura isn't really Bakura and then there's this whole business of millennium items and… he still can't believe that's not Yugi.
It's not until it's all over and their sitting silently, rubbing dazedly at their eyes that he feels the pang of loss.
Jounouchi isn't proud of many of the things he's done in the past, but if there was anything he'd gained from it all before his change of heart, it was the tough love that came with the unpredictable life of being a gang member and the desire to constantly test his limits. Since he'd first noticed how Yugi would change in the face of a challenge, he'd come to see it as a side of him that he could relate to, because there was something about the raw strength of it that wouldn't fade from Jounouchi. He knew Yugi always saw the good in people and Jounouchi was no exception, but he'd also come to hope, no believe, that maybe Yugi understood the rougher and more chaotic side of Jounouchi that would ever be present, albeit put to better use.
Yes, Jounouchi isn't proud of the things he's done. Sometimes he still feels a twinge of guilt when he inevitably recalls those days. And that's why, when he saw the change in Yugi, he'd wanted so much to believe that they shared an understanding, that Yugi didn't just see, but understood where Jounouchi came from, not just what he could be, but the sharper edges that underlie who he is.
But it turns outt it was never really Yugi's to begin with. That voice, it was his, the other Yugi's, the spirits. And Jounouchi knows it doesn't matter because it was always just an added bonus, never necessary, or even important. Besides, if there's one thing he knows how to go without, its the frills. It's just want and nothing more.
And he finds Yugi does understand, more than ever.