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 26th june 2004, by Misura

Thanks to Yana5 (-grins-), Snow Angel (hmm. I'd be more worried about upsetting Bakura than squeezing too hard, really), Sansi (what picture? There's no such picture! –hides it behind her back- -winks-), VampssAmby10210, Seto-Kaiba's-Fan, Koyuki (they'll be there in the last chapter, I promise), s.h.i.r.o.i.k.e.t.s.u.e.k.i (-smiles-), The Chaotic Ones (sorry?), legansimay, hiei fan girl (uhm no, not that I know), WolfBane2 (-sighs- I can't resist Puppy Dog Eyes so … I'll ask my muses for a loose fic about those four? Hmm?), mandapandabug (Joey's in this chapter. Kind of.), Kaira-chan (I ah may have been overdoing Yugi's kawaii-factor a little, sorry. As to Ryou's dream … it wasn't intended to be mysterious, really. Just about Bakura.), ChibiSerenity3 (well, Sakura –is- a more common name than Bakura, methinks. So it's a logical error, isn't it? –grins-), Crystal Blaize (… maybe a little), Star Light Shadow (thanks for the reassurances), Alessa Embers (hmm, yes, I do wish I knew Yami's address), Amonae (-grins-), Kiawna, Anime Crazed (yes, he was), Tara-Jamina, FREAK014, Sei Kou Ki, DarkShadowFlame (… he was dreaming about Bakura chasing him through a dark forest and woke up when Honda opened the door of –his- room, since he's a light sleeper. That was what was supposed to be happening anyway. –coughs and sweatdrops-), Ril, Flame Rhiannon (please be nice to my donkey), StrawberryVanilla, himeno, radiany ('Sakura' is simply Honda translating a'u'a to a name, really. And sorry, I felt a little ill so I updated late), Adele (I aim for weekly updates, every Monday), Claudia (-nods- Partially, they're meant to, partially, they confuse me too), UnknownDarkMystery (would you like some aspirin? –winks-), Kyoko Komiashi (I update every Monday. Aside from this week.) and Sierra's Darkness.

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"I ah, got a letter from my father yesterday," Ryou began, looking a bit uncomfortable. Honda wasn't sure if it was because of his nightmare or because of some other reason, so he limited his reply to an encouraging nod.

Besides, his mouth was full. And with Ryou's manners being impeccable, Honda felt obliged to make an effort as well.

"He's changed his mind about sending me here. Apparently, the leader of the project he's currently working on has a brother of about my age, and she's offered to let me share his tutors. He only speaks Egyptian, so she also would like someone around to teach him English," Ryou continued.

Honda swallowed a bit of his breakfast. Pretty tasty, if he did say so himself.

"Private tutors, huh? You'd better be prepared for him being a bit of a spoilt brat then." Honda winked.

Ryou smiled faintly. "According to my father, Malik Ishtar is a 'delightfully mischievous young gentleman, who, on occasion, throws temper tantrums that surely must be audible in Domino'. But maybe he's just lonely. Aside from his sister and a brother who's living in some monastery, he doesn't have any family."

"Family's important," Honda agreed, conveniently forgetting about his unpleasant uncle.

"Unfortunately, this -does- mean I have to leave for Egypt. Soon." Ryou seemed downcast again.

"Oh." Slowly, the full realization of what Ryou's news meant started to dawn on Honda. "You mean I'm going to have to look around for another place to live."

Ryou bit his lip. "Not ... necessarily. This apartment has been bought for me to live in, and to serve as a deposit for all the things my father wanted to keep, but couldn't take with him to Egypt. As you've seen though, it's a bit big for one person to keep tidy and clean. But if you wanted to, and if you could find someone willing, you could continue to live here with another person. I'm sure my father wouldn't mind."

A brilliant plan popped up in Honda's mind. "Great! I know just the guy!" With a slightly embarrassed cough, he added quickly: "I'll miss you, of course."

Ryou didn't appear to mind Honda's enthusiasm, seeming rather relieved at this reception of his news.

xxxxx

"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!"

"Can you give me a good reason not to?"

Could he? Could he really?

Listlessly dipping his spoon into his cereals-with-yoghurt, Seto mulled over Joey's challenge.

In retrospect, he never should have swallowed the bait so readily. He should have stayed cool, without responding to Joey's teasing and probing.

Unfortunately, he couldn't undo what he'd said or done last night.

Seto didn't have the time to dwell on 'if only's; he needed to figure out what actions to take next, what plan to follow to get back in control of this whole situation.

To let Joey play around with him wasn't something Seto intended to allow to continue for too long. In fact, he hadn't intended to let the control of the game slip away from him at all.

What had he been -thinking-?

Seto lifted the spoon to his lips, grimacing at the soppy cereals and shoving the bowl away from him in disgust. Great. Now Joey was ruining his breakfast as well.

It seemed that even without being present, Joey could disrupt Seto's schedules and plans.

"Can you give me a good reason?"

Could he?

Seto chuckled mirthlessly.

He couldn't even give -himself- a solid, rational, good reason for what he was doing and saying.

How then was he ever to come up with one that would convince Joey not to ignore him for another half eternity?

xxxxx

Otogi was, at heart, a social person.

Whenever one of his friends was particularly happy or fortunate, Otogi was cheered up as well.

Whenever one of them was sad or depressed, Otogi too felt somewhat downcast.

He was aware, of course, that not everyone was in possession of the social gene which he was lucky enough to possess. People like Kaiba and Yami simply never would understand wat it was like to be glad for someone else, or to have someone being glad for -you-.

Otogi did. He enjoyed cheering people up with his good news. And whom better to give some extra cheer and happiness than a certain valiant blonde who had taken upon himself the epic task to turn the fiercest of anti-social dragons into his own private lapdog?

Grinning at that last mental image, Otogi punched in Joey's number.

"What is it with you and calling people in the middle of the night?" an annoyed voice demanded.

Otogi 'tsk'ed. Apparently, -someone- was suffering from a morning-temper. Well, actually -he- was the only one 'suffering' from it, obviously.

"Seto?"

Otogi blinked. -Kaiba- had called Joey at night? Possibly more than once, even? How ... interesting. Otogi could think of a dozen topics they could have discussed at an hour like that, none of them very likely. Or suitable to be mentioned to Joey.

"Good morning to you as well. It's actually nearly afternoon where I live, but never mind that."

A short pause, during which Joey probably tried to wake up enough to ripost Otogi's remark.

"Otogi?"

"Yes. Sorry for having to disappoint you by not being your knight in shining armor," Otogi sighed.

Joey muttered something rather unflattering. Otogi assumed it was about Kaiba. Apparently, last night hadn't turned out as well as Joey'd hoped.

"What is so important that it can't wait until Monday?" Joey demanded.

Otogi swallowed his first reply, which was to call 'you get three guesses!'. Joey didn't sound like he was in the proper kind of mood for that.

"My game will be taken into production within half a year," Otogi said, quite proud of his self-control. He actually felt like yelling it, but, again, Joey probably wouldn't appreciate that very much. "I got an e-mail from the C.E.O. of Industrial Illusions this morning, saying his corporation is quite eager to launch my game and that he wants to meet me -personally-. 'As soon as is convenient'."

"Congratulations. I'm real glad for you," Joey answered. And hung up.

"Yeah, being in love's not that great nowadays, is it?" Otogi clucked his tongue and went back to reading P. J. Crawford's message one more time, meanwhile musing on what that P. might stand for.

-to be finished in the next chapter-