Slam dunk
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Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda, possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.
Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
written at 25th june 2004, by Misura
A big 'thank you!' to Humor Nut, VampssAmby10210, Reppu, Flame Rhiannon, Yana5, Seto-Kaiba's-Fan, Killian, Sabishii-sama (see? Puppy-eyes work), Suppis Tenshi, Sansi, Anime Ali (-protectively huggles her Anzu-muse-), FREAK014 (a glimpse of them in here), legansimay, mandapandabug (actually, I use Tea, Tristan and Duke's japanese names in this. Because I'm unable to put the accent on Tea. It's a personal preference, which I hope doesn't bug people too much.), StrawberryVanilla, LucidScreamer (hope you get well soon!), Snow Angel (-grins-), Amarin Rose (sorry, we make a time-jump this chapter), Kyoko Komiashi, pisces071, hAdOwCat (read and find out), radiany (thank you for the analysis of the problem. It might not help this particular story much, but it's definitely something I'll bear in mind. And –blushes-), Selene (not forgotten, I assure you), Johnny Depp luv (uhm, you did read the notes, didn't you?), Anime Crazed (-nods- Anzu is a quite intelligent girl), Pork Steak the Grande & co. (you're the first person ever to call me a 'cool cat'. I feel special now. –winks-), DarkShadowFlame (sorry for kind of disappointing you in the Yami/Yugi-department), Koyuki (no, sorry), Ril, Crystal Blaize, Kiawna (you're not the only one who wants to know that … or who will probably be disappointed by this chapter), firey punk girl, Nature-Boy (say 'please'?), The Chaotic Ones, Kaira-chan (I think he'd be good at it, though I've no idea why. Anzu'd be better I think) and Nez (it saddnes me to hear you say so. Because, well, that should be -normal-.)
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Honda hummed softly as he walked down the stairs. He and Ryou had spent most of the day decorating Honda's room, moving some furniture that had been too heavy for Ryou to handle on his own and hanging up some more posters.
Ryou had told Honda about his father, who was working on some archaeological project in Egypt and wouldn't return home for another sixteen months. Honda had opined that was a very long time, especially after hearing it had been nearly as many months since Ryou had actually met his father face to face, rather than seen him by webcam or talked to him over the phone.
His first impulse had actually been jealousy at Ryou's freedom, but ... though Honda's family could be way too nosy and worried about him sometimes, he wouldn't want to miss them for over a year. A few weeks or months would be like heaven on earth perhaps, yes.
Ryou had shrugged, stating that there wasn't much he could do about it. The expression on his face hadn't been too cheerful, so Honda had regaled him with a silly tale about the events that had taken place at his last family-dinner, upon which his aunt had inquired to his sister's boyfriend when the marriage was going to be.
Honda had never seen his sister look so murderous, or his uncle so red, due to having to hold in his laughter. The poor groom-to-be had fled the room, which went to prove that the dates Honda's sister picked didn't possess much of a backbone overall.
Ryou had laughed -well, smiled, actually- at the end, though there still was a hint of longing lingering in his eyes. Fortunately, Honda had been able to change the subject to the matter of tonight's dinner after that.
Since neither of them had been feeling energetic enough to cook, it was agreed upon that Honda would go out to buy some groceries, amongst which coffee, which Honda was addicted to, but Ryou never drank, and the ingredients for tomorrow's dinner, that would be prepared by Honda. Meanwhile, Ryou would order a pizza.
Honda sensed Ryou had definitely gotten the better part of their bargain.
"Are you Honda Hiroto?"
Honda snapped out of his reveries, barely in time to keep from stumbling over the outstretched leg of a white-haired boy that stood leaning against the wall, in a spot that, Honda would observe later, gave him a perfect view on Ryou's apartment without being visible to the apartment's inhabitants.
"What if I am?" Honda inquired aggressively. He knew a bully when he saw one, and he wasn't the type to put up with one. Besides, acting submissive only encouraged them.
"You're living with Ryou ... " It wasn't quite a question. Or a statement. It also was about the last thing Honda had expected to hear. He made a mental note to ask Ryou about this guy.
Possibly -just possibly- he was some sort of relative to his new housemate. The black sheep of the family Tsukiyono, so to speak. That would definitely explain why he referred to Ryou by his first name. And why he looked so much like Ryou, on the surface.
Beating up Ryou's cousin or, rather more unlikely, brother probably wouldn't be a very good idea. Beating up some creep who was picking on Ryou because he knew Ryou to be a meek and gentle person who lived on his own, on the other hand ...
"Yeah. So?" Honda shrugged, doing his best to appear relaxed and nonchalant.
The white-haired boy's gaze studied him for a moment. Honda tensed, his instincts screaming at him to get ready to fight. Or flee. He forced himself to remain standing as he was.
"I was curious what you'd be like." The strange boy nodded, more to himself than to Honda.
Honda walked on, considering the conversation to be over. When he turned his head, there was nobody there.
xxxxx
"Yami has invited me over for tomorrow," Yugi remarked over dinner.
"Oh?" his grandfather answered, careful to keep his voice neutral. He didn't want to outrigt forbid Yugi to do anything, but ...
"He's really ... " Yugi blushed, apparently at a loss for an adjective to properly describe Yami. His grandfather could think of some, though he didn't think any of them was one that Yugi'd consider using.
The old man sighed. "I thought we'd agreed that Yami had both good and bad aspects to his personality."
Yugi stared at him in confusion. "Well, yes." He frowned. "Does that mean I can't go? I alrady told him I'd come. If it was okay with you," Yugi added quickly. "My homework's nearly all done."
"I'm glad to hear so," his grandfather replied dryly. Concern about Yugi's -homework- was about the last reason why he was a bit reluctant to give his permission. "So ... what did you intend to do?"
"Do?" Yugi asked.
"At Yami's ... house," his grandfather explained. "Are his parents there too? Does he want to introduce you to his family?"
"No, his parents are almost never at home," Yugi shook his head, wondering what was on his grandfather's mind. "We didn't exactly talk about what to do. The usual, I guess. Watch a movie. Play basketball. Or some other game. Yami says he's got a lot of games on his computer. Because you can play those by yourself, and his parents wanted him to have something to do."
"Hmmm. Just don't be home too late. He didn't invite you to sleep over, did he?" What did Yami -want-? Yugi was willing to make friends with everyone, but the more he heard about Yami, the more the boy sounded like someone who preferred his own company to that of others. Probably his parents were partially responsible for that, if Yugi's words were anything to go by, but still ...
Why was Yami so eager to get Yugi alone?
"Of course not! Why would he?" Yugi blinked.
xxxxx
The stars were shining brightly, it wasn't raining and a cool breeze kept the evening fom being either too hot or too cold. It was, in short, a perfect evening for a romantic walk.
"You don't -have- to walk me home, you know," Joey observed. Seto wondered if Joey wanted him to say something along the lines that yes, Seto did have to walk Joey home, because he loved him.
In which case, Joey was in for a disappointment. The mutt should be used to them by now, he supposed. Maybe he enjoyed them ... considering he was still acting like he was in love with Seto.
"I know," Seto answered curtly.
"So ... then why? Not just the walking-home-part, I mean. All of it. Why are you suddenly talking to me as if I were another human being?" Joey inquired.
Seto shrugged. "When you stopped stalking and making pathetic attempts to huggle me all the time, I realized something."
"You missed me doing that?" Joey sounded surprised.
Seto rolled his eyes. "Of course not!"
They walked on in silence for a few moments, before Seto explained himself.
"I realized that you -did- have a serious side, in spite of you seeming to lack one. That maybe you ... -meant- all those outrageous things you said to me previously. Not entirely, obviously, but at least a little."
Joey snorted. "So, simply put, as long as I made you declarations of love on a daily base, you didn't believe them. But the moment I started ignoring you, you did."
"You over-simplify," Seto sputtered. Put like that, he sounded like an idiot.
"Maybe. It's still kind of messed up though," Joey stated. Then he added, with a grin: "You -are- aware I'll use this knowledge against you, aren't you?"
Seto stiffened slightly, staring questioningly at Joey, who winked.
"Hey, if a meagre few weeks of silence-treatment earn me a dinner-date, I wonder what two months of it will net me."
"Don't you dare!" Seto growled.
"Can you give me a good reason not to?" Joey challenged. Before Seto could think of one, he opened the door to the apartment he shared with his father and vanished inside, leaving Seto alone with the question. And the stars.
tbc