Slam dunk
**
Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.
Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
written at 24th january 2004, by Misura
Thanks to the people who reviewed the first chapter :
To Leaf Zelindor : Thank you!
To chibibaka1 : Glad to hear you liked it! ^_^
To hieiandkuramalover : ^^; Yes, I think Yugi'll be more than able to handle Yami. ~.^ Thank you!
To Temptress Nagisa : Poor Seto? Why? He constantly gets glomped by Joey! ^_^; Thank you!
To Sansi : Yes, Yami/Yugi will be main, though Seto/Jou will get a chunk too. Thank you! ^_^
To Hieithelostsoul : Glad to hear you liked them! ^_^
To Ryasha : Thank you! I'll try for weekly updates. ^_^
To RaineKitsune : ^^; Yup, but he nonetheless manages to look down a looooong way. Thank you!
To Kaira-chan : Well, I like Yami cocky and arrogant (before I have Yugi tear his mask down and reduce him to a cute guardian) so I'm glad to hear you don't mind me writing him that way too. Seto/Joey …. cute? Once they get together, maybe. (No, wait, make that definitely.) ^_^ Thank you!
To Renoirkmk : Would I dare *not* to have them fall in love? ^_^; Thank you!
To SoulDreamer : Thank you! ^_^
To Mai Valentine : I'll try to make this my new Monday-story and update weekly. Thank you! ^_^
To Kiawna : Thank you for the encouragement! ^_^
To Mel Gods : Well, maybe Yami was just a bit grumpy that day? ^^; He's not as bad as he seems, really. Kind of like Seto. Thank you! ^_^
To Miami-chan : One week … soon enough? ^_^
To Suppis Tenshi : Yami will always be cocky I'm afraid, whether he loves Yugi or not. At least, that's how I enjoy writing him. ^_^; Thank you!
To Killian : Well, Yami's not that bad, really. You'll see … And how do you know Seto doesn't like Joey back already? Maybe he's just too shy to tell his puppy! *coughs* ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^
To Carmen5-Nemrac : Maybe Yami just had a bad day? ^^; Thank you!
To Romennar : *blushes* Chapter two's right here. Please don't ask about chapter three though ; I haven't even started on that one yet. ^^; Thank you! ^_^
To duenna : Thank you, I will. : )
To DarkShadowFlame : Thank you! ^_^
**********
"The problem with Yami," Otogi remarked, dodging Joey's attempt to grab the ball out of his hand without taking his eyes off Yugi, "is that he's so damn good." Before Joey could try again, Otogi shot the ball at the basket, only to have it bounce off.
Joey gave a cry of triumph as he shot after it, while Otogi snorted and shook his head. "Not just at basketball either. He's practically at the top of every class." Sitting down, Otogi picked a waterbottle out of his bag, eagerly gulping down about half of its contents in a few seconds.
"Seto - " Joey began, before a disgusted glare of Otogi shut him up. Yugi wasn't quite sure how much of Otogi's apparent annoyance was faked, though he had the impression that the black-haired boy was mostly concerned for Joey and merely disapproved of his crush on Kaiba.
"Yes, yes, Kaiba's pretty good too. Geez, Joey, can't you go for two minutes without mentioning that guy's name?" Otogi rolled his eyes. "Lucky for us he's not interested in sports or you'd make puppy-eyes at him in the middle of a game instead of concentrating on winning it."
"Seto is better than Yami in almost every class," Joey persisted doggedly. "That's why they can't stand each other."
"Well, that *and* the fact that Kaiba's the only one who has an even bigger palace of a house to live in than Yami," Otogi remarked, idly twirling a lock of his hair between his fingers. "And since when can you call him 'Seto' by the way? Did you get lucky or something, without telling me, your best friend, about it?"
"One : you're not my 'best friend'," Joey began, ignoring the exclamation of mock-hurt that this statement drew from Otogi. "And two : if I want to call him 'Seto' that's my good right."
"Ah, I see. He calls you 'mutt' so you feel you're entitled to use his first name, as if the two of you were actually friends." Otogi sighed. "Really Joey, when are you ever going to get smart?"
"What the heck's *that* supposed to mean?" Joey demanded. "Are you saying I'm dumb?" Yugi shifted uneasily on his place on the bench, wondering if he should say something, but without a clue as to which words might calm down the blonde. Otogi seemed utterly unconcerned.
"I'd definitely not call throwing yourself at the feet of a guy who treats you like you're less than dirt 'smart', yes," Otogi replied calmly.
"Hah! Care to prove that you're so much smarter in a little game?" Joey grinned, holding up the ball. "Or are you too tired to do anything but talking?"
"I could take you on any time, Wheeler," Otogi answered, rising.
Joey smiled at Yugi, his angry expression vanished as soon as it had appeared. "Feel like playing too, Yug? Just for fun?"
"No thanks," Yugi declined, hopping off the bench. "I still have to return some books to the library. Besides, I'm no good at basketball."
"You know what they say : 'practice makes perfect'." Otogi winked at Yugi, at the same time trying to snatch the ball away from Joey, who ducked and prevented this.
"But if you don't want to, that's cool too. See you this afternoon with Miss Whiney then!" Joey called, as Yugi nodded and walked away.
Lost in thought, he almost missed the person who stood watching Otogi and Joey's friendly match, hidden from view by the shadows of the wall he was leaning against.
"You might pay a bit more attention to where you're going, you know." Blue eyes stared at him coldly. "Perhaps it'd keep you from bumping into people."
Yugi opened his mouth, then thought better of it and limited his response to a nod. No matter what Joey or Otogi said, he didn't feel like getting into any sort of argument with Kaiba. He knew himself well enough to know he'd most likely only end up embarrassing himself.
*****
After two hours of History, a class that was given by the somewhat talkative Miss Hanasu, a drained Yugi walked home, accompanied by Otogi and Joey. By some lucky stroke (Otogi claimed it was because he was Fortune's favorite) the three of them all lived only a few streets apart.
Otogi lived closest to school, in an apartment over a very popular gameshop in which he had a job for the weekends as well. One day, he had entrusted to Yugi, he would create a game of his own that would become such a smashing success that he'd be able to buy the store for his own and order the manager around who was, according to Otogi, a 'total tyrant'. Plus, the man had made the unforgivable mistake to laugh at Otogi's plans to become a designer of games.
Yugi had quickly discovered that while in general Otogi was very easy-going and rarely lost his temper, the black-haired boy couldn't stand being ridiculed. Anyone who considered Ryuuji Otogi an easy target for their jokes was in for a nasty surprise.
Joey was kind of the opposite of Otogi : as quick to take offense as to forgive and forget. He lived only two streets away from Yugi, in a slightly run-down flat. Other than Otogi, he had never invited Yugi to come over, so Yugi had no idea if the apartment was as bad on the inside as it looked on the outside. For Joey's sake he hoped not.
Though he wasn't sure of it, Yugi thought Joey lived with his father and sister, while Otogi lived on his own, a fact he prided himself in one day, while lamenting it the next. Yugi had to admit he couldn't imagine having to live without anyone else around to come home to. If his grandfather hadn't volunteered to have Yugi live with him, he'd have whined until his parents would have agreed to take him with them, to Egypt.
"So, would you like to come over to my place this afternoon?" Otogi asked. "I've completed the next phase of my game yesterday, so you guys could be the privileged few to be the first to test it." He winked at Yugi, ignoring Joey's muttering.
"Sorry, Otogi, but I promised I'd help my grandfather cleaning," Yugi replied, sincerely regretting he'd miss the opportunity. He had always enjoyed games and puzzles and, in spite of Joey's rather insulting comments, Otogi's game was pretty interesting.
"Joey?" Otogi looked pleadingly at the blonde, who shook his head.
"If I don't finish that book-report for English this afternoon, I'll be in big trouble. Maybe tomorrow. Or in the weekend." Joey made a helpless gesture with his hands. Otogi pouted.
"With friends like you, I don't need enemies. Ah well, your loss. Enjoy your book-report, mutt! See you tomorrow, Yugi!" With a last grin, Otogi turned around.
~tbc??~