Slam dunk
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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 19th may 2004, by Misura
A big 'thank you!' to the people who reviewed the seventeenth chapter. I had the choice between posting this three days late (to add in personal replies and to wait for the updates has scheduled tomorrow and the day after that, which would disable posting for a while) or posting this now and, well, I chose the easiest way. Sorry.
[!] Please note that this fic does not have the pretense to take place in present-day Japan or any other modern country.
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Ryou woke up at eleven o'clock, which was a new record. Most often he woke up around seven, even on weekends and holidays. He guessed it was because his body was simply used to it, and because he rarely ever stayed up late.
Yesterday-evening ... Ryou frowned, trying to remember what time it had been. He had had some sort of visitor who ...
"Bakura!" How could he have forgotten about that creep? Worse yet, how could he not have protested more against the guy's staying in his home?
Spurting to the guest-room, Ryou silently rehearsed exactly what he was going to tell Bakura before kicking him out. He winced slightly at the sound of the door slamming against the wall, feeling an odd urge to apologize for waking Bakura this rudely.
He suppressed it, reasoning that Bakura's actions had more than warranted a little pay-back.
"Listen, I don't know how you managed to - " Ryou began, before abruptly closing his mouth, staring at the scene in front of him.
The lack of any clothing, hanging over the chair or lying on the floor.
The lack of any Bakura, asleep or otherwise.
The lack of any signs that the bed had been slept in at all.
It was as if Bakura had never been here at all. As if it had all been nothing but ...
"A dream?" Ryou blinked, closing the door to the guest-room behind him softly, heading for the bathroom for a nice, refreshing shower that would hopefully help to clear his head.
"Well, 'nightmare' may be a better term, all things considered."
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Joey had hung up on him.
It was impossible, illogical, unsufferable and undeniably true. Which didn't mean Seto had to -like- it any better, of course.
Because Joey wasn't supposed to hang up on him.
Joey should have been dancing around the room out of sheer joy at Seto making that much of an effort for him.
Such a reaction would have annoyed Seto, naturally, giving him yet another proof of how utterly foolish and immature the blonde was, but ... it would have been something he'd -expected-. As normal as rain being wet, or fire being hot.
Joey's current behavior was, quite simply, intolerable. Seto couldn't allow for it to continue.
And if Seto had decided on something, it would happen. Joey was no match for him when it came to strategy and tactics.
Which was why he was here, in a cafeteria he knew Joey to visit often on Saturday-mornings. Seeing the big poster that announced Saturday-morning to be 'Eat as many pancakes as you can for just - '-morning, he'd be willing to bet he knew the reason for that.
It really was a miracle the blonde looked as good as he did, with the way he kept stuffing himself, Seto mused, taking another sip of his coffee and sighingly checking his watch.
Not that he -personally- considered Joey to be good-looking, Seto hastily amended his previous thought. Just, well, people in general seemed to think so.
Seto didn't see Joey as being any more beautiful than, well, let's say Yami. Kind of. Though Joey was definitely the better-looking of the two. Yami was just ... too arrogant.
"I think I hear a stack of pancakes calling my name!"
Hm. It seemed Seto had been too distracted to notice that his single reason for coming here had arrived. He'd have to stay more focused in the future.
His coffee had gone from 'hot/warm' to 'luke/cold' too. Yet another indication that this was just going to be a fabulous morning.
Settling down to observe Joey digging into his stack of pancakes, Seto wished he'd brought a book or something else to do. He had the feeling it might be a good while before Joey would be finished.
And it wasn't like watching Joey eat (if you could call what Joey did by such a polite term) was an activity Seto enjoyed in any way.
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His uncle hadn't been too pleased to hear Honda was moving out. Ah well, the man's opinion wasn't really important to Honda that much anyway; he was pretty sure his sister and his parents would approve of him showing some 'independence'.
Especially after he'd assured them he -hadn't- moved in with his boyfriend, of course. Which would be the assumption they'd all make, if only because his uncle'd probably beat Honda to telling them the news.
The one person whose opinion Honda -wasn't- sure about (and really wanted to know too) was Otogi. They hadn't spoken another word after Honda had walked out on a rather strange-acting Otogi, so Honda wasn't even completely sure if Otogi was aware that he'd be having the apartment all to himself again today and the days after that.
Honda had lingered for a good few hours after breakfast to see if Otogi would turn up, but either the black-haired boy was extremely lazy, or he had been determined not to see Honda. At noon, Honda had left at last, leaving a note to explain things.
All in all though, Honda didn't feel too satisfied with the way things were going between him and Otogi. The other boy was simply too aloof, too hard to see through. Honda had lived with him for weeks, thinking Otogi to be a rather grumpy and negative person.
Last night, Otogi had seemed quite different. Without any good reason Honda could think of.
Perhaps, Honda mused, he ought to get a second opinion. Talking to someone who knew Otogi better than he did might give him some insight into Otogi's ways of thinking.
Ryou probably wouldn't be able to be of much help there, considering he'd only moved to Domino recently, but maybe someone else ...
In the back of his mind, Honda could almost hear his sister chiding him for always picking the most impossible people to get a crush on. He argued back at her that at least Otogi wasn't -her- boyfriend, or that of any other girl. Surely that was a hopeful sign?
By the time he'd reached the door to Ryou's apartment and rang the doorbell, Honda had convinced himself that Otogi and him were simply made for each other. He only needed to convince Otogi of that fact, a small and easy task, once he'd figured Otogi out.
tbc