by Lethe
Chapter Seven: And When You Stumble
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I'll warn you ahead of time: I went kind of hyper while I was writing this chapter. ^__^;;
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"Seto Kaiba."
Kaiba stood and walked to the front of the classroom, took the paper from the teacher, and went back to his seat, all without a word.
Nobody noticed when he threw a wink in Jonouchi's direction – they were all too nervous, awaiting their test results.
It was surprising, really. Kaiba had thought that whenever he so much as tripped – which he never did, by the way – the school found out within a day. And yet, he and Jonouchi hadn't become 'news'.
Kaiba wondered momentarily whether that was conceited of him, before deciding that it didn't really matter and he should just look at his test.
His jaw dropped.
-
"So, how did you do?" said Jonouchi with a grin once class was over. "Perfect hundred as usual?"
"Something like that," mumbled Seto before quickly turning the topic back around. "You?"
Jonouchi beamed and displayed his paper proudly. "Ninety-eight! A record high! And all thanks to your brilliant help!"
Kaiba winced inwardly as he congratulated Katsuya. JOU HAD DONE BETTER THAN HE HAD!
J-Jonouchi really was rubbing off on Seto! And soon…
A mental image appeared to Kaiba. He was viewing himself in the third person. Seto was wearing a dog suit and crying in front of a three-times-bigger-than-normal Jonouchi.
"That's right, bow before your master! Sit! Beg!"
Kaiba whimpered.
And then Jonouchi grew wings and floated up to the school's gates – why are they in the sky? he wondered – laughing at Seto. "Mutt! Stay down there and study some more, why don't you!"
The door of the cage closed with a squeeeeeekTHUMP.
Test
papers began swirling in a neverending torrent around Kaiba – big red numbers
were scrawled on them - 85 - 77 – 63 – 30 – ZERO?! No! "This can't be
happeningggggggg…!"
Jonouchi raised an eyebrow. "Seto? Are you okay?"
Kaiba blinked, pulling himself back to reality. "Yes. Fine."
"You know, Seto, if anything's bothering you, you can tell me…"
"I know, Katsuya. Nothing's wrong." He drew Jonouchi into an affectionate hug. "Thank you for caring."
Jonouchi grinned and hugged back. "You know what's weird?"
"You?"
"Aside from that. Nobody seems to care about 'us'."
"So, let's keep it that way. Unless you want to see what their limit of nonrealization is."
"Nonrealization? Is that a word?"
"It is now," said Kaiba with a laugh. "I'll pay the dictionary companies to put it in."
Jonouchi giggled. "You would."
-After school.-
"Jonouchi! Kaiba! Hey!" said Yugi cheerfully. "How's it going?"
"Great!" said Jonouchi. "We're going to the café. Do you and Anzu want to come?"
"I'll have to ask Anzu when she catches up," said Yugi. "She had to go back and get her gym uniform. …Or something like that."
"Oh, guess what?" said Jonouchi.
"What?" said Yugi.
Jonouchi grinned ecstatically. "I got a ninety-eight on the History test!"
"Wow!" said Yugi, beaming at his taller friend. "That's really great, Jou!"
Kaiba was silent, a bright red blush creeping up his cheeks. Yugi noticed immediately. "How did you do, Kaiba? I'll bet you aced it, huh?"
Just as Kaiba was about to reply, a loud and cheerful voice rang from behind them. "Hi, guys!"
"Anzu!" said Yugi happily. "We're going to the café. Come with us!"
"All right," said Anzu.
"So how did you do?" persisted Yugi, turning his attention to Kaiba.
"On what?" said Anzu.
"They had a
History test today," said Yugi.
"Jonouchi got a ninety-eight!"
"Wow! So who did you copy off of?"
"Anzuuuu!" said Jou. "I got that score fair and square, thank you!"
"All right, whatever you say," she said with a shrug and a grin. "How did you do, Kaiba?"
"Fine," said Kaiba insincerely.
Anzu glared at him. "What did you get?"
"What does it matter?"
"If you don't tell us, we're going to assume that you got a zero." Anzu crossed her arms menacingly.
"Hey!" said Kaiba. "I might have gotten a bad grade, but it wasn't that bad!"
"So you admit you got a bad grade!" said Anzu.
He blanched. Jonouchi and Yugi were staring at him in disbelief. "Perhaps," he said.
"How did you do?" said Anzu softly.
"Don't worry," said Jonouchi. "I've had worse than whatever grade you have, trust me."
"But this is different!" said Kaiba, looking away. "I… I've never done badly. I have a reputation to uphold."
Jonouchi walked behind Kaiba and put his arms around the other boy's shoulders. Yugi and Anzu glanced at each other and grinned. "Seto," he said. "You have a reputation with us, and it'll never be a bad one. Come on."
"I… ah…" mumbled Kaiba as Jonouchi blew into his ear. "All right, stop! I'll tell you!"
The three were deadly silent as Kaiba began to speak.
"I got… a ninety-seven."
And the whole world fell over.