Genre: Fluffy/wisful angst.
Set: A few days or so after Shou's duel with Insect chick.
Spoilers: Only if you don't know what that duel changed in the opening credits.
The boy shifted in bed, adjusting the pillow and covers for what must have been the fiftieth time that night. It was no good... Ever since he had changed dorms, it had taken him hours to fall asleep. You would think, after so many nights on the flimsy, hard bunk beds in his old room, the large, thicker, more comfortable bed would lull him to a near instant sleep.
Giving a sigh, he sat up, reaching for his glasses. He could almost hear his friend's happy exclamation as he had flopped down on a similar bed, exclaiming how wonderful the beds were there. But it seemed... so large. Just like the room seemed so large. And so empty. No loud snoring below him, no creeks from the bed above him, no strange sounds on the support beam from the light footsteps of an oversized cat. No more random exclamations of a dreamed duel. No more muttering from when it had been a much lighter weight in the upstairs bunk. Even the louder snoring that had kept him up the first night of the current term. All the normal sounds that combined into a strange sort of lullaby to cradle him to sleep. Now that they were absent...
He slowly slid out of bed, bare feet padding softly over the carpet. No more cold floors, no more slipping on fallen cards or laundry. He pushed the curtain framing the window aside, looking out towards the far corner of the island. It looked so far away...
If he would walk out there, could he just sneak back into his old room and curl up with those familiar sounds? Or would he find someone else in his bed?
He looked down. Had he made the wrong decision? He was still part of the group, spending his day along side his friends as he had before. But at night... it was different. Parting to go back to a large empty room and to waste the night tossing and turning... How was this helping him to be stronger? Strength wasn't being alone, or else he have been stronger then anyone when he first came to the school. Strength came from other people supporting you or pushing you when you needed it most. From people who would drag you around the school in the middle of the night in a wild chase after a rumour or a duel. From people who would chase after you when you tried to run away because you were afraid. From people who never teased you when you lost a game and who would always try get you to trade them your best cards every duel. He gave a small smile. Not that he'd even be able to use Power Bond well in his deck, even if he was willing to trade it away.
Maybe it would be fitting. He had given it to him, after all. Or rather he had given it to Manjoume to give to him, he was still too much of a coward to have handed it to him directly. He was the only reason he could even use that card now. When he had been too afraid to even try, when he had run away... He was the one who defended him, who had stuck up for him and showed him the meaning behind it all. He'd given him his brother back... Twice, he'd done that, he smiled slightly. Twice, he'd redeemed his mistakes for him. What was a single card compared to that?
Slowly, he turned from the window, eyes falling on the rumpled bedding. Maybe... Maybe he'd invite him over. The bed was big enough for two... right?
A deep blush crossed his cheeks. No. No, he was still too much of a coward to do that. Too afraid of getting a strange look, like the one had gotten when suggesting that they were like the Pharaoh and his High Priest. Though, if he said that now, he'd probably just laugh and agree. He smiled softly. It was the laugh that he had fallen for. This enigma of a boy who was so sure of himself that he could laugh at anything, no matter how serious the odds were against him.
But it wasn't as if he didn't care. He'd seen him worry too. The nightmare he had woken him from... That he had woken up to his name being cried out with such desperate misery... After all that had happened, he hadn't needed to ask what the dream had been about.
Was he still having nightmares? The danger had passed, but there always seemed to be a new one just around the corner. New students, new cards, new duels. Always, he was the center of whatever happened, with everyone and everything coming together around him.
In that sea of chaos... there never really was any chance to even try, was there? When things weren't crazy, he almost didn't want to, worried that he'd break the fragile calm. And he was afraid, still. After all, maybe it was just a strong friendship. It felt different then it felt around Asuka, or even when Black Magican Girl had somehow come to duel. But... He put a hand over his heart, eyes closing. But if he could... and he didn't look at him strangely, or ask if he was feeling all right, or joking... If he could understand... Then maybe he could invite him to stay, and the room wouldn't feel so large and empty.
Until then...
The room door creaked slightly as it was slowly pushed open, a silvery shaft of light spilling out onto the thin carpet as the sound of snoring greeted him. Giving a small smile, he slipped into the room, closing the door carefully behind him, setting his yellow boots down silently next to a more beaten up pair of red. There was a small break in the snoring as the floor beneath him creaked and mumbled question greeted him.
"Un," he answered softly, climbing up into the middle bunk. "Couldn't sleep again."
Another mumbled reply before the boy fell into snoring once more.
Shou smiled softly, setting his glasses down before snuggling into the thin blanket, eyes closing as he let the sounds of the room fill his ears and lull him to a restful sleep.