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. All similarities between books and authors mentioned in this chapter and real ones are purely coincidental.
written at 7th february 2004, by Misura
Thanks to the people who reviewed the fourth chapter :
To hieiandkuramalover : ^_^ Thank you! Also for hugging Yami. He needs it ... ~.^
To duenna : Thank you, I'll do my best. ^_^
To Leaf Zelindor : Thank you! Also on behalf of Yami. ^_^
To Sansi : Yugi's very good at helping people, rest assured. Thank you! ^_^
To Kaira-chan : Awww, would I do that to Joey and Otogi? ^^; Seto's simply talented at anything. Well, nearly anything. ~.^ Thank you! ^_^
To Seto-Kaiba's-fan : Joey will be pleased to hear someone agreeing with him. Thank you! ^_^
To Miami-chan : Yugi made his homework, like the good student he is. Thank you! ^_^
To Anime-Ali : -_- I spent three *days* to come up with a plot that wouldn't make Yami another orphan while still keeping him free of parental supervision! But thank you anyway! ^_^;
To Suppis Tenshi : You know me too well. ^^; Thank you very much! ^_^
To EnternalDarkFlame : Thank you! Sorry for being one day late with this chapter ... ^_^
To UnknownDarkMystery : They're uhm somewhere. *coughs* Sorry. Still looking for a good moment to introduce them. ^^; Thank you! ^_^
To Star Light Shadow : One day late, sorry. Thank you very much! ^_^
To Koishii No Tenshi : Well, Yugi was dutifully doing his homework. Not too interesting to read about I thought ... ^^; Thank you! ^_^
To Sugar-Kat : Uhm, haven't even *heard* of Eric Walter, sorry. ^^; Concerning your request ... would you mind waiting until I've finished this fic? I mean, it *is* somewhat central to my plot ... Thank you very much for liking the fic! ^_^
To Kiawna : It just *seems* that way? ~.^ Thank you! ^_^
To DarkShadowFlame : *ponders for a while* Self-assured? (For Yami I mean). It's actually just another way to say 'confident' ... I think I've Mokuba-ized Joey a little in this fic. But it's a lot of fun to write him like that, so I'm glad to hear you like to read him that way too. Thank you very much! ^_^
To Carmen5-Nemrac : One day behind schedule, sorry. Thank you! ^_^
To DerangedButMagic : Thank you! *blushes* Also for huggling Yami! ^_^
To Little Miss Raven-chan : *blushes* Thank you very much! ^_^
To Digimagic (and Sarah) : Thank you very much, also on behalf of Yami. ^_^ I love writing Seto/Joey so I'm glad you enjoy them too.
To Yugi-obsessed : Thank you, also on behalf of Yami. ^_^
To A. Hailan : Thank you very much for your kind comments. ^_^ Honda ... well, as you probably noticed he hasn't even been *mentioned* in the fic yet. I do have a role for him though, so I hope to introduce him shortly, hopefully to your liking. ^_^
To Romennar : Uhm, sorry, not much Seto/Joey-ness yet. But I'm working on it, promise! Thank you! ^_^
To Pikpik246 : Ah. Well, glad to see you at least took the time to say something. Thank you!
Chapter warning : teacher-bashing (-_-;;; Sorry. I know there are really nice teachers too.)
**********
" 'And what cheap excuse do you have for me *this* time, young man?' " Otogi mimicked, grinning at Joey and shaking his head sadly. "I thought you were going to work on it all evening yesterday?"
"I *tried*," Joey sputtered, "but it was such a *boring* book. I only took a short break, but then it had gotten really late all of a sudden and then I was too tired to finish it."
"Typical." Anzu rolled her eyes. "If you'd paid a bit more attention during class, you'd know what books are interesting. Of course, you could also have started on the assignment a bit earlier. After all, we got it two weeks ago."
"I paid enough attention to know that there *aren't* any books that won't bore me to death that are also considered to be 'Literature' by Miss Hanoi." Joey looked sour. He had honestly intended to finish his report over breakfast, only he had overslept. That could happen, right? It was completely unfair that he should be punished for a simple misfortune by a bad mark.
"Well, I thought *my* book was pretty good," Yugi offered shyly, his cheeks turning red as three pairs of eyes were turned in his direction.
"Really? Which did you pick?" Joey asked curiously.
"Uhm ... 'The marvelous adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow' by Jonathan Steadfast, I think. It was about pirates." His grandfather had recommended the book to him, fishing it from some dusty shelf with the remark that he had read it many times during his childhood.
"That sounds actually cool." Joey sighed. "Mine was about ... uhm ... some guy wanting to marry some girl. Only their families didn't want them to, so they ran away. Like I said, it was all very boring."
"It sounds rather romantic." Anzu looked interested. "Do you remember the title?"
"Nope sorry." Joey shrugged.
"Speaking of a bad memory ... " Anzu muttered.
Otogi chuckled. "Joey's memory's simply selective. I bet he can recall the time at which he has another class with Kaiba just perfect."
"I doubt if you'll find anyone stupid enough to take that bet." Anzu snorted.
*****
As the afternoon crept past, Yugi noted that Joey seemed to be a lot less cheerful than usual, his eyes only lighting up when Kaiba walked past his table in History-class. The brunet didn't look right or left, ignoring everyone and everything around him, heading straight for a spot at the other end of the room. Yugi thought there probably wasn't any place to be found further away from Joey's.
"See? He does like me!" Joey grinned happily at Yugi.
"Uhm ... " Yugi didn't really want to argue with the blonde. Or crush his hopes, should that be possible. Otogi's frequent disparaging remarks didn't appear to affect Joey in any way.
"He could have taken a whole lot of other routes to his own desk, but he picked the one that went past mine." Joey nodded. "Cute, isn't he?"
There were quite a lot of adjectives Yugi might use to describe Seto Kaiba. 'Cute' wasn't one of them, really.
"If you say so ... " Maybe Joey knew something he didn't. Yugi was still kind of new here, after all. Otogi nor Anzu had said anything about Joey and Kaiba ever having been closer than they were at present, but that might be simply because the subject hadn't really come up. Whenever Joey began about his favorite topic, someone else, mostly Otogi, would tell him to shut up.
Joey chuckled. "Don't let that icy exterior of his fool you, Yug. Deep down inside, he's just a shy guy. But one day, I'll break down that wall of his ... "
Yugi considered that Kaiba sure did a great job at hiding his shyness. If Joey was right, that was.
"Will you be going to Otogi's this afternoon, to test his game? I don't think we have much homework to do for tomorrow."
"I don't think I've got much of a choice." Joey winked at Yugi. "After already having let him down yesterday, he's probably going to drag me along in chains if I say 'no' again. When it comes to that game of his, he's as obsessed as he accuses me to be."
There wasn't much Yugi could say to that. Since the teacher chose exactly that moment to call for silence, the trouble of thinking up a diplomatic answer to Joey's last statement.
*****
"All right, spill it, Joey! Why have you been looking like someone ate your lunch all day?" Otogi asked, voicing the question that had been bothering Yugi all day. Otogi's phrasing was a bit straighter to the point than Yugi's would have been, had he found the opportunity and the courage to talk to Joey about the subject though.
Joey mumbled something. Yugi wasn't able to make out many specific words. Something about a ball?
"What's *wrong* with you?" Otogi stopped walking, to stare at Joey with a certain accusation in his expression. "What has happened to the guy who proudly yelled at me that he was in love with Kaiba and that I could go jump in the river for thinking that was the most stupid thing I had ever heard?"
"This has got *nothing* to do with Seto. Geez. It's as if you think he's all I can think about!" Joey rolled his eyes.
Otogi for once refrained from confirming that yes, he did indeed think that. "All right then, speak up some more loudly. What's bugging you? I promise I won't laugh, whatever it is."
Joey studied his face suspiciously, before shrugging. "I've lost my basketball."
Otogi blinked. Yugi observed that there was no hint of amusement in his green eyes. Just a bit of confusion and a spark of what might be sympathy. "How? Where?"
Joey bit his lip, looking a little nervous. Or, Yugi realized at his next words, a little guilty. "Well, I went to play a bit of basketball last night ... you know, just to take a bit of a break from the book-report ... "
"Last night?" Otogi narrowed his eyes. "When you were 'too busy' to come over to test my game?"
"Erh ... it was only ... " Joey began, backing down a few steps as Otogi glared at him accusingly.
"You are *dead*, Joey Wheeler!" Otogi shrieked. He sounded, Yugi considered, like someone who was either very, very mad or someone who was trying hard not to laugh. Perhaps, knowing Otogi, it was both.
Hastily stepping out of the way as Joey yelped and spurted away, with Otogi in hot pursuit, Yugi musingly thought that his two new best friends were definitely a bit odd sometimes. He wasn't too worried about Otogi seriously going to try to murder Joey and he had to admit that Otogi did have some reason to be angry with the blonde. Thus, instead of trying to help either of them, Yugi sauntered on to the gates of the school-terrain, knowing Otogi and Joey would catch up with him eventually.
Walking past the baskteball-court, hidden from view by a few bushes, he heard the sound of someone dribbling, the ball hitting the ground in a steady rhythmn that ended abruptly, followed by a thud that Yugi guessed to be caused by the ball having dropped through the basket and falling down again.
Driven by curiosity, he strolled over to where he would be able to see the person playing. Perhaps it was Anzu or one of her friends.
~tbc~
A/N : *grins* Not too hard to guess who Yugi's mysterious basketball-player is going to be, is it? ~.^ Yes, if all goes well, next chapter should *finally* be the one in which Yugi discovers his 'hidden' talent. ^_^