Title: Broken Wings
Author: Yugi's Tenshi
Rating: PG-13, for this chappie
Warning: The usual stuff.
Pairing: Kaiba Seto / Jounouchi Katsuya
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Chapter 7: Silence >
They didn't talk about it. Not once. It was like a tacit agreement that they weren't going to mention it again. Katsuya would come to the hospital after school and sit with Seto, doing idle chitchat. With every passing day they'd talk less, falling into awkward, stretching silences, squirming uncomfortably in the other's presence.
"How long do the two of you intent to do that?"
"Do what?"
"Beating around the bush, carrying the church around the cross, ignoring the obvious, you name it."
"We aren't doing anything even remotely similar to that."
"No?"
Seto sighed and turned to look out of the window. It seemed like a habit he'd taken to in the short time he was hopitalized. "He knows." Mokuba stared at his brother, eyes wide with surprise. "Everything. From beginning to end. Every sad little detail."
"So? It's not like he holds you responsible for your past, now does he? He's not disgusted either, otherwise he wouldn't come here every single day to see you, h-"
"I know that, Mokuba," Seto interrupted, dragging one delicate hand through his brown tresses. "God, I know. What I don't know is why he does it … ok, I do, but I can't understa-"
"You don't have to!" It was Mokuba's turn to cut off his brother's sentence. "Why can't you just accept that he likes you?"
"Life is not as easy as this. You'll learn that soon enough."
> > > > >
Katsuya smiled lopsidedly when he entered the now familiar room. He liked to come there, he liked the time spent with Seto, and within the same drawing of breath he would say he dreaded it. More than anything else. He couldn't stand the awkward tension setteling between them whenever topics of speech ran out.
It was frustrating, even more so because he knew exactly why they would stumble into this horrible silence. And yet, he was unable to do anything about it. On the one hand he desperately wanted to act upon his feelings and confront Seto about it, about everything that was said and left unsaid between them. On the other hand, he didn't want to do it at all. He didn't want to destroy the however small amount of trust Seto seemed to finally put into him. He didn't want to wake a sleeping lion again, to disturb a finally peaceful sea.
It tore him apart on the inside.
"Hey," he greeted Seto soflty, not wanting to startle the other as he seemingly hadn't heared the door open and close as Katsuya entered. Seto turned to look at the blond now standing beside his bed, a small, almost not perceptible smile hushing over his lips.
"Hello," was the short answer. Not more, not less. Katsuya sighed and dragged a chair to the bed, sitting directly in Seto's line of few out of the window.
"Finals are going to start next week, Sensei wanted me to tell you. You are expected to take them, if you're not released by then, you have to take them during summer vacation."
Seto snorted, raising one eyebrow. "As if I need to take them anyway. They know I'll easily pass, they could just write the 100 points down and not bother me." Katsuya chuckled, a genuine smile showing on his face.
"Right, they really can be a pain in the ass sometimes." He laughed to himself for a moment, eyes going distant with a reminescent image of Seto finishing his tests in record time and leaving everybody else groaning.
"I'll be there anyway."
Katsuya stopped short. "You what?"
"You heared me right. I'll be there to take the exams. They're going to release me tomorrow." Seto totally missed the disappointed look crossing the blond's face, the sad smile and empty eyes when he answered.
"That's great, I'm happy for you. It's about time, too. They held you hostage long enough, don't you think?"
There it was, the dreaded silence. Katsuya looked to the ground, biting his lower lip and kneeding his fingers in painful looking ways. There was no reason for him to see Seto besides school any longer. Coming to the hospital to tell him about school was a good excuse, although it was never openly agreed on that. He would just stop by and Seto didn't seem to mind at all, or at least that much. He did talk to Katsuya after all, and he did smile, too. But with Seto being released, he would certainly start working again. He had to catch up with the going-ons of the company and definitely would not appreciate it if Katsuya was to butt in every day and disturb him. Not that that was an option anyway. They just kept on ignoring everything that had to do with Seto's outburst about his stepfather, or their feelings, for that matter.
With this thought, Katsuya jumped to his feet, almost knocking over the chair he had occupied seconds before, making it screech over the linoleum floor. "I'm going to see you on Monday, then, I guess."
Eyes still cast to the ground, he rushed to the door, not once glancing back at Seto.
tbc >
A/N: Rather boring chapter, I know. But it's necessary for future things. I finally got a draft I want to follow, but who knows wether I do, or not.
I also know that this story is moving a bit slowly, but with all the other things I've written so far, I finally want to have some real character development and good descriptions, so please bear with me for a while longer. I do realize that I ask that a lot from my readers, but if you don't like this story, you don't have to read it.
Finally and most important: Thank you to everybody who reviewed! I love to read what people think about my work and constructive criticism and ideas are always welcome!
'Til next time,
Yugi's Tenshi