Dedication Cairnsy
Why For her wonderful writing skills. I still have her Jounouchi-centric Halloween ficlet in mind ["Gaijin Halloween," was it?].
Labels off track; dry humor; masochism; shonen-ai hints; teasing; character analysis; drabble; oneshot; pg13
[beforehand]
Another plotbunny I had after the "Magic Trick" one. Can be seen as a friendship!HondaJou, or an eventual relationship!HondaJou. Maybe neither?
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Goose
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Jounouchi hated games that involved running away from another player. Like tag, or hide and seek, or duck duck goose.
Especially the last one.
Sure, it was a kid's game and Jounouchi didn't play it anymore, yet he couldn't help but feel a twinge of horror every time he recalled being "it." Not the unsuspecting goose "it", but the wary hunter "it." There was something about choosing the one to chase him that delighted him, and he vaguely wondered if he had a masochistic streak.
Honda used to tease him about the frightened look he would get on his face every time he was chosen, and Jounouchi would feel his defensive mechanism starting up when he argued that it was anticipation and the future thrill of being chased that excited him. He would get a snort each time and a "right; I bet you also like the thought of being chased with an invisible axe?" and Jounouchi would glare and tackle him. Needless to say, things went downhill from there.
They never had time to go the movies, but Honda would drag Jounouchi to a nearby Blockbuster whenever he knew Jounouchi was free and point out all the new releases when they reached the aisles. They would both look at the cartons labeled with "cartoons", "action-packed," "thrill," or "adventure" because that's what little boys liked at the time. Jounouchi knew that Honda would peek at the girls on the boxes and never tell him, but Jounouchi didn't really care even though he personally thought that all girls besides Shizuka were icky. They probably had cooties too.
He would suppress a shudder and sneak away while Honda looked at video games and sighed at their prices.
Besides, he didn't want Honda to know that he was looking at the back of horror movies with an expression of sick fascination etched onto his face. And if Honda did find out, then they could probably make some sort of compromise where Jounouchi would tell everyone that Honda liked girls if Honda said anything saying that Jounouchi got off by looking at things that scared him. He didn't know what "got off" meant, but he once heard a gangster saying it and thought it sounded very grown-up.
The first time they got to see a movie it was a horror picture. After Jounouchi found out, he had spat his first curse word and Honda had stared before laughing his head off. Jounouchi retaliated by giving him a noogie and it resulted in a dust-lifting fist fight like the ones you see in cartoons. They only stopped after the usher had gripped them by their shoulders and threatened to throw them out because please boys, this is a movie theatre.
Later, as they walked out of the building and along the sidewalk, Honda had pointedly reminded him of every scene that had a woman being decapitated or when the zombies were blasted to bits with some babe's bazooka or when blood had splattered all over the screen.
Jounouchi dumped his leftover popcorn over Honda's head.
Years later, he would look back at all the reasons he hated horror and would realize that it didn't really matter.
Then Yuugi and friendship with Yuugi both hit him over the head and the entire thing began to rewind.
He hated being "it."
fin.
[afterward]
Finished June 23rd, 2004.
Written and modified in 40 minutes.
554 words.
Written with personal experience --; Yes, I do read the back of horror videos every time I go to the grocery store's video section. In fact, I watch horror!video games' trailers [fatal frame I and II, silent room 3 and 4 [damn, that one's freaky], siren, etc.] for fun and freak out because they freak me out…
I got a little off track. -eyeroll- I swear, I'm reading far too much Harry Potter...
endlog[5:15 pm]