Ok so, I found this old piece of mine abandoned in my docs and decided to post it. It's based on a prompt I found on Google so, enjoy!
I do not own YGO! DM
"You're staring."
Mana halted her moves, her piña colada was just about to touch her lips, the music had just stopped, but the bar was as loud as always when her friend, Miho, decided to speak.
She blinked, cleared her throat and started playing with the straw of the drink. The knowing smile on Miho's face made her stutter. "S-Staring? Who —I mean, what do you mean?"
Some other song started playing again.
"Oh come on, don't play dumb now!"
"I'm not!"
"You totally are!" Miho laughed and turned her face just before Mana could stop her. She scanned as many as she could, taking a sip of her drink, and stopped with a grin that was only getting bigger and bigger.
Mana rolled her eyes when Miho looked at her again.
"No way! That's the guy from the games development department, isn't he? What was his name again?" Miho narrowed her eyes, focused on remembering, and then snapped her fingers when it apparently worked. "Atem Mutō, right?"
"Uh-huh," Mana nodded and drank her drink. When the glass touched the table again, she decided to answer Miho's silent —but obvious —question. "Okay, yes, I think he's cute. So what? And how do you know about him?"
Miho laughed at her flustered friend and shrugged.
"He's quite popular among the girls in my faculty."
"Understandable."
"..."
"..."
"Wait, that's all?!"
Mana blinked again. Why was Miho suddenly so shocked?
Of course she didn't fail to explain herself.
"Aren't you going to talk to him? Go talk to him!"
"What?! No way!"
"Yes way! You're almost drooling!"
"What?!" Mana took her hands to her lips unconsciously and this time it was Miho who rolled her eyes just before starting laughing again.
Mana had blushed. She didn't need to look at a mirror to know that her friend was laughing at her tomato face.
"He's all alone, Mana. Go."
She hid her face behind her glass.
"Nu-uh"
"You have a crush, don't you? Shoot your shot."
"Nope… Also, he's probably waiting for someone. And by someone I mean a girlfriend."
"Or a boyfriend."
Mana sighed.
"Yeah, he's just too cool," she looked up again just to find him asking for another drink. "He has someone. Just look at him."
Miho did as she said. And didn't stop until she decided to say: "I think he got stood up."
Mana raised her eyebrows. "Really? Why would you think that?"
But just before Miho could answer, the door of the bar was pushed and someone, a girl, entered. Both she and Miho looked at how the girl walked rapidly toward Atem and they started talking.
"Oh, nevermind, he does—"
But just as she was about to confirm what Mana thought was obvious, Atem and the girl started gesticulating. They were arguing, at least that much was obvious.
He said something that Mana couldn't really hear due to the music and other voices, and then they just stopped.
The next thing she knew, the girl was leaving and Atem asked for another drink.
"Oh, he's all alone again. That's your chance, my friend!" Miho cheered.
Mana looked at Miho. It was unbelievable.
"What?"
Miho shrugged and then added, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world: "They argued. Their relationship, if they still have one, is not on good terms. What are you waiting for, girl?!"
Mana questioned her friend's morals.
"Again, what?" she repeated. "I won't take advantage of that. If he's hurting then I would feel like I'm kicking him while he's on the ground."
Okay, she wasn't really sure whether that made sense, especially if Miho was staring at her as if she was growing another head. But then, her friend exhaled.
"You wouldn't be kicking him, you would be… uh… offering him a shoulder to cry and an ear to listen…?"
Mana frowned, confused, and Miho growled.
"Ugh. Yeah, nope. No more metaphors."
They both laughed and Mana realized that there was no piña colada left. She clicked her tongue and as soon as Miho noticed, she quickly took her own glass and finished her own drink in one gulp.
Mana didn't know what to think, and then Miho opened her mouth again.
"We need more."
"Should we—?"
"Nope. You go, I stay."
"Huh?"
"This is your ultimate chance, girl. Go, ask for our drinks and talk to him—and when I say talk, I clearly mean to seduce him."
"Huh?"
"Go," Miho didn't even pay attention to her.
"But—" Mana tried to protest, but Miho didn't let her when her eyes met Mana's.
"At least say hello, you only go for our drinks anyway."
One, two, three seconds of a silent debate and Mana had clearly lost. "Fine." She gave up. "A little bit of flirting won't hurt."
Well, it would hurt her pride if he rejected her, but she was only going for their drinks.
"Don't stop till he's beneath your sheets!" Miho cheered up, not looking at her, as she stood. Mana felt her face getting hot, that hadn't been discreet at all.
But before she could change her mind, she was already walking towards the counter.
That day… that was not his best day. That was not even an average day.
First, his bike broke so he had to walk —run —around the campus in order to arrive at his classes on time… which did not happen.
Second, a presentation, a damn presentation that had been scheduled for that day and that he had forgotten about. Yup. A project that was worth at least 40% of the total grade and that he had most likely failed.
And last but not least, he had found out that his girlfriend was cheating on him.
Oh, and a special mention to the exact moment when she tries to explain to him what happened and they end up arguing in a damn bar. At least he wasn't really in love with her —topic that of course came up in the middle of their brief discussion.
Yeah, Atem was not having a good time. He needed another drink, but then…
"Sir!"
Someone else called at the same time as him. Atem sighed when the bartender seemed confused as to who to take the order from first and the girl smiled at him.
"Go on," she said.
On a normal day he would have denied the courtesy and decided to be a gentleman, but right now he was just too tired to care.
"Thanks, one more of the same, please," he said.
"And two margaritas," she soon added.
The bartender nodded and proceeded to prepare their cocktails. In the meantime, Mana started panicking when she felt Atem's gaze on her. Should she look at him too? Should she bat her eyelashes? Should she lean forward even though her shirt wasn't that low-cut?
"So, um, having a bad day?" she ended up asking while waiting.
Atem nodded once.
"You noticed?" he raised an eyebrow and Mana didn't know whether he was joking, but decided to laugh a little anyway.
"Well, yeah, that much is obvious. Why would you be drinking all by yourself otherwise?"
They stayed silent for a few seconds. Mana cringed. Why would he answer that? She was oh so good at this that she almost didn't feel like running away.
"What about you?" Atem said instead. "Two margaritas for yourself?"
He was kind of smiling, so she emulated the action and shook her head.
"Nah, I came with a friend, she's over there… talking to some random guy now..."
Damn that's why she wanted her so badly to go.
"Well, I guess I now have two margaritas for myself… yay," she continued.
And for the first time that night, Atem felt like laughing. He looked at the girl again, when her green eyes were focused on her friend. She was really pretty, Atem thought. And he had seen her before.
"I'm Atem, by the way. Atem Mutō."
"I know."
He raised an eyebrow and Mana blushed. "Well, you're quite popular. We go to the same university… although we're in different departments. I am—"
"Mana."
"Huh?"
She blinked at the sudden interruption, and Atem's drink arrived. He thanked the bartender and after taking one sip, he looked at her again.
"Mana from the arts department. You're quite popular yourself."
"Am I?" she frowned. As far as she knew, no one has ever come to talk to her like she was trying to talk to Atem now.
Atem nodded.
"You won an award last year, didn't you?" he asked. And then something within Atem made him panic. "Not that I'm a stalker or something. It was published on the university website."
Was it weird that he read the news there? Atem wasn't sure.
"Oh… yeah, I won."
She smiled and then her drinks arrived. She looked at them and then looked up at the barman. He raised an eyebrow, as if asking her if there was something wrong.
Okay, now that the drinks were in front of her, what was she supposed to do? Just when she had Atem's attention even!
She looked at Miho for help, but of course her friend was in a whole other world with a man.
Damn she.
"Hm, what will you do now?" Atem asked.
Mana raised her eyebrows.
"Will you go and interrupt your friend?" he smiled.
She gaped. Wasn't that a little too straightforward? Not that she was complaining though… Unless she was getting the wrong signal. In that case yes, she would complain. He shouldn't be allowed to look at her like that with no intention of going to his or her home later.
So, after one margarita went down her throat, she smiled with renewed bravery.
Should she try the eyelashes thing now?
He frowned. "Did something get into your eyes?"
His tone was purely worried and Mana, even though she was embarrassed, started laughing. Yup. She had received the wrong signal.
Atem didn't understand what happened, but her laugh made him smile. One hour later, they had talked about a lot of different things, had drunk more cocktails and neither of them had gotten bored at all. Atem barely remembered why he was so upset that day.
So, he tried shooting his shot… Or so he thought, but how did he do that again?
Atem tried to get closer to Mana, but then felt self-conscious, what if he smelled? He surely did. He's been in that bar for more than 5 hours now.
Then, should he buy her something to drink or eat…? He almost hit himself. She's been there too!
Time was running up, she was going to look at him again. Should he try? Or should he run away? Why did he have to make the first move? Well, maybe he had never done it before and that's why he didn't know how to. Damn everything was so difficult.
And then Mana looked at him.
"Shouldwegosomewherequieter?" he said. Well, he tried to. He did it, but he wasn't quite sure if she had understood. "I mean, we can, you know, go to my place, watch a movie… I can make some popcorn if you want."
She blinked.
Movies? At that hour and his place? Well, she wasn't stupid.
"Are you trying to seduce me with popcorn at 1 am?" Mana asked. She was smiling, but laughing. She was doing the thing with her eyes and she didn't even know it.
"I am, yes. And I suck at this."
Yeah he did, but…
Mana took her purse.
So did she.
"Popcorn it is."
