I told Yuugi you needed help with English, since it's your lowest grade. He'll be waiting at the local library after school. Good luck! There was a cute little winking smile drawn besides the message, but it did little to assure Mokuba. Sometimes, he wondered if life was really THIS complicated, or if he was just making it that way.
English. He KNEW English; it was his favorite class to sleep through. Honestly, he had lived in the States on and off since he was eleven; he wouldn't have lasted ten minutes if he hadn't taken care to learn it. So that meant he was going to have to fake ignorance for his tutoring session with Yuugi. On the up side, he could use it to flirt a little.
As it stood, he was sitting at a table in the library, thumbing through his English textbook and trying to formulate some plan. He could say something obscene and make up a lame-ass excuse like he'd learned it online and didn't know what it meant, or maybe he could just lead Yuugi around in circles with cute little sentences. That seemed the easiest, and there was a perfect chapter for that – he'd studied it a couple weeks ago...
"Hi!" Yuugi said, sliding into the seat across from Mokuba. "Heard you've been having some trouble."
"Just a little," Mokuba lied, flushing just slightly. At least it wasn't hard for him to act embarrassed – he WAS embarrassed.
Yuugi grinned and reached across the table, taking the book from Mokuba. "No problem – this is one class I managed to pass. Which chapter?"
Just what Mokuba had wanted him to ask. He resisted a little smirk and said, "Seven; we're working on description and social interaction. It's pretty basic, but I have little words I keep messing up."
"Well, what exactly is the problem?" Yuugi asked, flipping to the correct page for chapter seven. "Vocabulary, constructions...?"
And into the lion's den Yuugi went – it was working out too perfectly. "A little bit of everything; the sentences are built really differently. Body parts are difficult for some reason; I keep forgetting them. Like, if I met a nice foreigner, I wouldn't be sure how to say 'You have pretty eyes' or anything like that. I guess I don't get a lot of practice." It was lame, and even a little transparent, but it was all Mokuba had. It wasn't like he'd thought to ask Anzu for the finer points of flirting.
But apparently, he was subtle enough to go straight over Yuugi's head – quite the feat, with the height of that hair – because the older male wrote 'E-Y-E' on a piece of paper he had taken from the book. Mokuba wasn't quite sure where the pen came from. "Well, how are your reading skills?"
"Good enough – 'eye', right?" Mokuba faked a self-satisfied grin, and he earned himself a laugh from Yuugi.
"Perfect. I had the same issue remembering stuff like this; it works best to relate it to a picture, I think. I remember this one because people have identical eyes, and the letter 'e' looks the same. Just think of the 'y' as a nose, and you've kind of got a face."
Mokuba nodded, still grinning. "I get it!" It sounded overly complicated, but it wasn't as though Yuugi was a real teacher. "But pretty – I can't just look someone in the eye and tell them, 'You have eyes'. I want to be able to tell them that they're beautiful, not just existing." He made sure to look directly at Yuugi, hoping that there would be some emphasis... Buy Yuugi was biting his lip, looking up as though in thought.
"Well... Like this: 'pretty'. Why so curious about the word pretty? Got someone special you're trying to impress with your superior intellect?" Yuugi winked, practically grinning from ear to ear.
You – did you forget? "Maybe," Mokuba replied with a smile, leaning over a bit to look down at the textbook. "So the proper sentence is like this – " Mokuba looked up at Yuugi, " – 'You have pretty eyes'." That at least left a small impression; Yuugi didn't speak right away, and Mokuba sat back in his seat, genuinely pleased with himself for the first time that day. Finally, it was starting to look like Yuugi wasn't oblivious after all...
"That sounded perfect. Do you really need that much tutoring?"
Mokuba shrugged. "I guess I'm doing better than I thought. I've been interested in this unit; it fits perfectly with as often as I've had to ask people if they're coming to my party on Friday. I even managed to ask the foreign student if he wanted to come."
"Oh, really?" Mokuba couldn't help being proud of the impressed tinge to Yuugi's words; it made him feel noticed. And being noticed by Yuugi wasn't as easy as it seemed, especially in recent days. "Can you invite me in English?"
"Sure. 'I want you...'" Mokuba paused, grinning and licking his lips, " '...to come over on Friday.'" He nodded and laughed. "See? Speaking of Friday, is there anything you'd suggest? I've never thrown a party before."
"Well, don't try too hard; you don't need too much planning for a bunch of teenagers. But I'd just say have plenty of food; Jou can eat more than you could ever believe." They laughed, and Mokuba crossed his arms on to the table, laying his forehead against them – hopefully without looking as frustrated as he suddenly felt. Damn it, was there ever going to be a conversation between them without Jounouchi coming up? Every time he heard the blond's name, he felt a pit in his stomach, and he just wanted to pretend he hadn't heard anything. It was awful, because he really liked Jounouchi; that was mostly why he was afraid to be his rival – he wasn't so sure he could win.
Suddenly, the whole flirting plan felt stupid, even pathetic – Mokuba wanted nothing more than to get up and leave.
"Is there anything in particular you want for your birthday?" Yuugi asked, and Mokuba looked up.
Just a kiss. He shook his head. "I'm not picky. But you know, I'm not feeling all here right now; I don't know if I can handle this whole tutoring thing. Sorry about that."
"Don't worry; I don't mind helping. After all, what sort of bad things would happen if you failed a class?" Yuugi teased, closing the book, paper marking the chapter they had just been working on.
"Just bad things," Mokuba humored, taking the book and shoving it in his bag. For all that stupidity, he STILL didn't know if Yuugi remembered, or even cared. He'd have to hit hard, and hit low... or just ask directly. He elected the former.
"So, Yuugi, I hate to bother you, but could I ask another favor?" Mokuba looked down into his backpack, afraid to look up and see that Yuugi was irritated, or bored with him...
"What?"
Mokuba stood, slinging his backpack over his shoulder; Yuugi didn't look bored, or resentful. If anything, he just looked curious. Mokuba took a deep breath and blurted, "I wanted to get something to wear for the party; one of those things I just want to feel all new for, you know? I was wondering if you'd like to help me go find something." It was a cheap shot – everyone and their uncle knew Yuugi had a thing for clothes.
"That'd be great!" Yuugi's whole face seemed to light up and he cracked his knuckles. "I know some great places at the mall, and a couple others if we can't find anything there."
"Awesome. Say tomorrow, after school?"
Yuugi stood, holding out a hand to Mokuba across the table. Mokuba took it, smiling to himself. Giddy over a handshake – God, was he twelve again? "I'll pick you up there." They shook hands, and Mokuba took his hand back, shoving both hands in his pockets, hoping he wasn't grinning too goofily.
"So it's a deal?" Mokuba called out as he left, turning and walking backwards towards the door. To his surprise, Yuugi flashed him a smirk, and his next works practically knocked Mokuba on his ass.
"It's a date."
Thank you to Elsalhir for beta'ing! She's the best-est boss ever. heart
fluff eats my soul. xx but there's three chapters left -- and I like the last half better, so with any luck, it'll be better. Or at least less.... gah, cheesy. ::ashes is hiding under the armchair in the corner::