Bon Appetite…
"Yug?" called Jounouchi, still holding the youth's ashen face.
Only silence prevailed, a sort of nauseating quietness that made him breathe harder. Arctic chills traveled up his spine as he began to shiver. All of a sudden, the world turned into a dark, gloomy place filled with nothing but frightful thoughts and scary dreams. This was by far Joey's worst fear: cradling his significant other while being unable to defend them from their inevitable fate. He felt so powerless, so extremely useless at the moment. Joey's eyes burned with the tears he had been suppressing since he saw his precious love return home looking like a mutilated doll.
Trying one last time to summon the petite adolescent from the endless abyss of eternity, the taller teen spoke his love's name.
"Yugi-chan?"
Still the unsettling stillness gripped the atmosphere of the living room. Joey, whose face had gone as pale as Yugi's had, could feel his bottom lip beginning to quiver. Tracing the boy's sun splashed lips, the dark-eyed teenager took in all of his ally's features. The alignment of the duelist's visage was astounding to him. Somehow, the child appeared to be as attractive in death as he was in life. His cheeks, though they had lost their rosy glow, resembled the starry whiteness the moon portrays in the evening. Strands of tri-colored locks cascaded off the sides of the pretty duelist's visage, resembling a rainbow stream filled with precious metals of gold, onyx and ruby. His tiny mouth continued to remain parted, almost as if love had magically froze him in time. Even the peculiar glassy quality of his eyes suggested that he was still waiting for Joey to close in the small distance between them with his mouth. Feeling a cold shiver run down his back, the blond trapped himself in the recesses of his troubling thoughts.
/He--he's finally gone. The one who I've spent countless hours daydreaming about in class is really gone. I--I can't believe this!/ his mind screamed in sorrow that only a broken heart would know and understand. /I won't believe this! It's not fair! Damnit, why me? Why did this have to happen, especially to Yug? He'll never know what love without suffering feels like, never truly comprehend the fact that he is worth far more than some object to use and abuse. And I would have made it so good for him, doing anything he dreamed up just to please him. And those lips of his, that satiny crimson mouth…/ the blatant truth smacked him like a frosty glacier, almost absorbing the last degree of his energy. /Yugi's lips, the same sakura blossom-colored flesh I had kissed a thousand times in my dreams, will never touch mine. He'll--he'll never kiss me. Not now, and not ever./
Stifling a sob, the dark-eyed teen held his emotions at bay for a little while longer. He couldn't bring himself to recognize that his life-long friend had slipped away in his arms. Pulling himself together one last time, Jounouchi let his fingers glide over the boy's clammy skin.
/I wish that for once, just once, that fairytales were real./ thought the taller teen, imagining what it would be like if he possessed the qualities everyone thought he did, but never had. /That way, I could save my damsel in distress by slaying the evil dragon guarding him. I'd be brave, really courageous…just like I always wanted to be. Then, when my pretty prince was in sight, I'd whisk him off his feet. Whatever weapon I used to kill the dragon with, I'd throw it down just to have a few precious moments with my one and only love. As a token of his eternal gratitude, Yug would give me something that would make risking my life worthwhile. Slipping his small arms around my neck, the tiny prince would kiss me so sweetly, so softly that I would have to take him to my castle and hope that he would stay with me forever./
Gazing at the adorable duelist with shiny eyes, Joey found that he was unable to look away. /What if I could make my dream come true right now? Maybe by some crazy miracle, I could kiss him right now, and he'd wake up…/
Permitting his eyes to fall shut, the dark-eyed teen leaned in towards his koi. The sensation was beautiful, everything he could have hoped for as he captured his love's lips with his own. For a precious moment in time, the two teenagers represented a sort of love that not even exalted members of a royal family could re-enact.
/We put Romeo and Juliet to shame, just me an' you./
He waited for the second his darling morning star would awaken from his sleeping spell, when he would finally see a sign of life return to the petite adolescent's structure.
/Rise, fair maiden, and kill thy envious moon sick and pale with grief…/
Still the tiny teenager's body stayed motionless in a corpse-like fashion. Swallowing hard, the blond stared off into the vastness of space. Terrifying truth washed over him, forcing him to accept the event that passed without a logical explanation. Suicidal ideas flashed before his eyes as he gripped his sweetheart's small frame tightly.
/My first kiss. This was my first kiss ever, and Yug wasn't even here to share the joy of it with me. I see things clearly now. He'll never be able to share any kinda passion with me. I might as well die./ Fancying the deadly phrase, the taller teen condemned himself to the afterlife. /That's it…I could just take my own life. That way, I'd be free to look for Yugi. That way, I'd be with him./
Refusing to let himself cry, the dark-eyed boy scanned the living room.
/There's gotta be something in this place that would help me out…/
Expensive china glinted in the lamp light, showing off its ornate designs behind the glass doors of a display case. On the other side of the kitchen door sat a bookshelf filled with titles that Jounouchi couldn't even pronounce, yet alone read single-handedly. Quaint Precious Moments figurines (no doubt Tea's personal collection) decorated the coffee table near the center of the room, along with some scattered magazines. Littering the carpet in front of their shared television set was a bunch of action figures he had neglected to clean up. They ranged from all different series and appearances, colors and sizes. Most of the interactive toys even came fully equipped with an arsenal of their own. Vaguely remembering some afternoons where he and Tristen spent numerous hours together, the blond was struck with a brilliant recollection. Wanting to outdo his other buddy in the art of destruction, the taller teen had brought out a container of bleach. Grinning maniacally to his comrade, the blond boy dunked a Blue Eyes White Dragon model into the fluid. In a matter of minutes the paint from the fearsome model had totally dissolved, leaving the formally legendary creature a discolored mess.
/That's it!/ he thought to himself, a dark sense of hope forming in his head. /I can swallow the toxic junk and be rid of my existence! Then I'd be able to crossover and find Yug!/
Gently setting his love down on the carpet, Joey crawled over to the mound of battered toys. Pushing the unwanted pile underneath a floral print couch, he searched the floor for any clue as to where the small bottle of poison was located. Finally, after looking though every crack of the coffee table, he fished out the desired vial. Concealed in an ordinary cup, one would have made the fatal mistake of thinking the liquid was nothing but water. Joey knew better, though. His nose instantly detected the hideous scent of the bathroom cleaner.
/Man, Clorox Bleach's about as fragrant as vinegar./
His spine tingled with the combined terribleness of consuming a vile substance and the idea behind the action. Gagging at the distasteful smell of the fluid before him, the dark-eyed boy held his nose.
/There's no turnin' back now…I'm not gonna punk out on this one./
Licking his lips in disdain, Jounouchi raised the glass to his lips. His senses were overwhelmed, his nerves were shot, he just lost his best friend and future lover, but that was all in the past now. He was only concerned with one impulse of his, and that would take precedence over everything else in the world: the fiery need to chase down his crush and make the stunning duelist his.
Tilting his head back to receive the death delivering potion, Joey smiled and said, "Bon appetite, Yugi-chan."
The dead child's name was the last word Jounouchi could vocalize before he crashed onto the furniture below.