Author: Dragon Radar

Rating: R

Title: Cheater

Summary: Syrus thinks Jaden is cheating on him, which means he has no choice but to leave him. Things aren't what they seem, but will Syrus find out the truth in time to salvage their two-year relationship? Judai/Sho, Yaoi

A/N: This story is set in the future, and I wasn't exactly sure how many years the students attend the Duel Academy. In my universe, they attend until they're nineteen. That means Zane is in his final year, and Syrus and Jaden are both seventeen.

Cheater

Chapter 2

When Jaden returned to the dorm room, hoping to find Syrus sleeping so that he wouldn't have to explain himself, he was greatly disappointed to find an empty room.

"Guess Sy went for dinner, though it's a bit late…" Jaden flicked on the light and his eyes immediately bugged out in horror. Littered on the floor like confetti was the paper he had to turn in the next day. Someone had broke into his dorm and ripped up his essay!

But…there was no sign of someone breaking in. Could Syrus have done it?

"Don't be stupid, Jaden," he told himself, "Syrus wouldn't rip up his own work – not when it meant he'd just have to do it all over again. He'll be back soon and we can figure out what to do then."

But Syrus didn't come back that night. Jaden hardly slept, and when he finally passed out into a dead sleep, there was no one to wake him up for class the next morning.

Syrus hadn't slept either. He'd ended up spending the night with Zane. Syrus had showed up on his doorstep with an overnight bag and a glum expression.

"It's over. Jaden and I are through. Could I crash here for the night?" Zane had let him inside, already knowing the details as he'd spoken with Alexis about it an hour before.

"It's for the best," Zane had said coldly. "You know mother and father would have never approved."

"I really don't want to talk about it. Can we just sleep?"

But he hadn't slept. He'd tossed and turned for hours, unable to sleep without Jaden's arms around him. He'd gotten up in the middle of the night, tears streaming down his face, ready to go crawling back to Jaden even though he hadn't even told him he'd left yet.

Zane had told him to quit crying like a girl and go back to sleep. It was tough love, but it had worked. Now, he was sitting in class trying valiantly not to stare at Jaden's empty seat smugly.

'I guess that means he didn't have any trouble sleeping without me, though,' Syrus thought sadly.

"Mr. Truesdale, perhaps you can answer my question," Dr. Crowler sniped meanly. Sitting up straight, Syrus swallowed thickly.

"Err…what was the question again, Dr. Crowler?" The blonde man sighed in frustration and quickly repeated the question.

"Could you theoretically have three of Umi and three of A Legendary Ocean in a deck?"

Syrus's mind was really not on the intricacies of water decks at the moment. He stood up a bit grudgingly, trying to pick his own brains for the answer. Bastion had a water deck, didn't he? And the two of them had discussed this several months back.

"Err…no, since Legendary Ocean is treated as having the same name as Umi – I think?"

Dr. Crowler looked like he had something sour in his mouth, but he nodded in recognition of the correct answer.

"So, say you are fearful of not drawing your Field Spell cards. What do you do then?"

Syrus hated answering in front of the class. He loosened his jacket collar nervously and tried to force his mind to think of a solution. Usually Jaden would be right at his elbow and whisper the answers to him when he froze up.

He didn't need Jaden!

"You could, uh, have one Legendary Ocean and two Terraforming. That would raise the odds about as high as they could get in favor of getting your Field Spell card out."

"Correct. You may sit." Dr. Crowler continued on with the lesson, and thankfully Syrus wasn't called on again. Jaden never showed up – probably because he didn't have a paper to turn in. That, at least, made Syrus a little more cheerful. Syrus felt as if he'd been made a fool of – as if he was just using him for an errand boy while he was really screwing Chazz. It made him want to punch someone – preferably Chazz.

Chazz hadn't shown up to class either. It was a good move on his part. Syrus was still the shortest boy in their year, but he wouldn't have let that stop him. He seriously wanted to beat up the obnoxious slut. He'd never been so angry in all of his life.

That afternoon, he ate in the Obelisk cafeteria with Zane and Alexis. Zane was as quiet as ever, but Alexis chatted about her last match with another girl in the dorm, in the hopes of keeping his mind off things. She was practically in the middle of a sentence when he made his announcement.

"I think I'm going to accept the promotion now."

Alexis fell silent. Zane glanced up from his drink.

"It's about time. There's no point going to the best dueling school in the world and turning down a top position. I know you still have two more years, but the job market for duelists is a small one. Not everyone can be famous. You'll need every advantage you can get on paper. Being in Obelisk will look much better to future employers."

Syrus nodded. Why did he get the feeling that his years as an Obelisk Blue weren't going to be very happy? Alexis wasn't so bad, but being in the same house as Chazz – eating meals with him and taking classes with him – it was going to be unbearable.

Speaking of Chazz, the devil himself walked into the cafeteria.

"Just ignore him, Syrus," Alexis advised, seeing that the other boy was walking towards their table. Everyone got quiet to hear what would be said. Of course, the entire school already knew there was trouble in paradise, though the exact reason was murky, and Syrus hadn't officially told Jaden they were over. Hundreds of rumors were flying around, most of them ridiculous.

"Well, if isn't a Slifer in Obelisk territory? What is it, Slifer? You're perfect boyfriend finally manage to shake you off his ass?"

Syrus clenched his glass so tightly that it started to crack. Much to Syrus's surprise, Zane stood up, immediately demanding respect and pulling rank.

"Go back to your table, Chazz. Now," he ordered imperiously. Shaking his head, Syrus slammed his glass down. He wasn't going to let Zane fight another one of his battles. He'd learned the lesson a long time ago that doing that was a quick way to loose his brother's respect.

"No, Zane, this one's mine." He stood up slowly and turned, head lifted high. Chazz only arched an eyebrow.

"What? Little Syrus showing a backbone? Ha!"

"SHUT UP!" Syrus half-roared, surprising everyone at the raw anger in his voice. Even Chazz looked taken back. "I challenge you to a duel, Chazz. If I win, you never speak to me again. If you deny me a duel, then let everyone know that it's because you're a slime sucking coward. Do you accept or not?"

Looking slightly bewildered, Chazz nodded. "Fine. I'll kick your ass any day, Slifer scum. Just name the place and time."

"Now. Outside."

"Syrus, maybe you should…" Alexis warned, not wanting to piss of Syrus further. Truth was, after Chazz had left and returned to the school, he'd come back ten times better. He was truly a formidable opponent now. Alexis didn't know if Syrus could really take him. Sure, he was pretty good against Jaden and Zane, but he never actually won.

"And what if I win?" Chazz asked, hands on his hips.

"Then I'll quit. You've never liked me. Now it's your chance to get rid of me," Syrus spat viciously. Chazz really looked surprised at that, but he wasn't about to turn down a duel, even if wasn't exactly sure why Syrus was so angry with him. He'd probably found out that Jaden had been meeting with him. Syrus was clingy enough to get pissed off about it, even though it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Alright, fine. We'll duel. Let's go."

Jaden had been looking around all the spots Syrus usually hung out in an attempt to find him, even though he should have been furiously trying to write his paper. He was heading towards the classrooms when he passed Bastion, who was practically running in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Bastion, what's the hurry?"

"Haven't you heard?" Bastion asked surprised. He was one of the few students that hadn't heard about Syrus leaving Jaden.

"Heard what?"

"Syrus is about to duel Chazz! He challenged him in front of the entire Obelisk house. The duel has already started."

"What! Where?" Jaden asked, shocked that his soft-spoken boyfriend would challenge someone as cocky as Chazz. He usually didn't duel with anyone other than himself or his brother. The only reason he'd been offered a spot in Obelisk was because he'd really pulled his grades up the past two years.

"Well, are you coming or not?" Bastion asked unnecessarily.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Jaden said quickly running past Bastion. He had a feeling something serious was going on. He didn't know what exactly, but he knew it wasn't anything good.

The two boys made it to the spot of the duel, but the crowd was so huge that they couldn't tell what was going on. They could, however, see that Syrus had an extremely powerful monster out.

"Little Syrus is kicking Chazz's ass! When did he get so good?" Jaden heard someone comment. Another girl, a first year, was quick to reply.

"Didn't you know? He's dueling to stay at the academy. He told Chazz he'd leave if he lost. He dumped Jaden Yuki, too! I don't know what's gotten into him, but this new assertive side of him is kinda cute! Too bad he's gay," the short blonde gossiped back.

Jaden couldn't move. Bastion was looking at him worriedly, an equally shocked look on his face.

"Jaden…I had no idea. When did all this happen?" Bastion asked hesitantly. Jaden was quickly becoming angry. He didn't know what was going on, but it had all gone way too far. He pushed through the crowd, intending to put a stop to the duel, but Syrus beat him to it.

All he heard was Chazz's groan as Syrus's attack took the last of his life points. Over the crowd's cheering, Syrus strode forward angrily and actually kicked Chazz in the side, forcing him to roll over and look up at him.

"We had a deal. Remember it!" With those final words, flanked by a smirking Zane and a worried looking Alexis, Syrus disappeared in the crowd. Jaden rushed forward and reached a hand out to Chazz. The other boy, predictably, got up on his own and merely glared at Jaden.

"Your boyfriend is a psycho!"

"Look, what's going on?" Jaden asked plaintively. A few Obelisks and Bastion had hung around, rather than departing after Syrus like everyone else.

"Syrus has dumped you," one girl said plainly. "No one knows his reasons exactly, but most people think it's because he thought you were cheating on him with Chazz," here she turned a questioning look on the defeated duelist. "And so Chazz started talking crap and Syrus got pissed off and challenged him to a duel. He said that if he won, Chazz could never talk to him again, and if he lost, he'd leave the Duel Academy. You know the rest."

"What the fuck! Why am I the last person to know?" Jaden stormed off in the direction Syrus had gone, leaving Bastion to stand awkwardly with the Obelisks.

"Are you alright, Chazz?" He asked levelly. The arrogant Obelisk was holding his side, but he nodded brusquely.

"Fine."

There was more silence and then, "Well, did you do it?"

Chazz glared darkly at the ground, his mouth a thin line.

"It would appear so, wouldn't it? Does it really matter?" He huffed angrily, glared once more at Bastion, then turned on his heel and left. To the gossiping girls, that was as good as an admission of guilt. They scurried off to tell their friends, and Bastion was left wondering why he hadn't gotten the full story.

It was a puzzling equation indeed, and something just didn't add up.