The hotsprings were…well, hot. As always. The water was bubbling faintly, and exotic flora and fauna grew around the naturally hot water. Steam rose, clearing Chazz's sinus passages as he breathed in.

Jaden laughed.

"Stuffy nose?"

"I get colds really easily." Chazz said in an extremely clear voice, unlike his usual rasp.

"…Dude! Wait! Say something again!" Jaden said, prodding Chazz in the side.

"Ow! What?" He demanded, spinning, ready to take Jaden down.

"Your voice is so…clear! It's not all raspy and mean-sounding! You must get a lot of colds…" Jaden said, grinning up at Chazz.

"Yeah." Chazz said as they made their way through the locker room that allowed them access to the hotsprings. Technically they weren't supposed to be in the hotsprings after dark, but no one ever followed those rules.

All three boys stripped, and then wrapped towels around their waists, making sure not to look at each other out of their constant fear of being perceived as gay. Which was ironic, considering Chazz was 'private-list sexual', otherwise known as selectively bisexual.

Two boys looked up from where they were twined in the water, and Chazz blushed, seeing his pale, Southern friend, who blushed in return but waved sheepishly. He was sitting on the lap of his Duel Ethics teacher, Chazz realized.

He stared for a second, then hurried back to where Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley were. He sank into the water then, when they weren't looking, moving silently through the water so that he appeared in their group, a large cluster of rocks separating them from the rest of the making out couples.

"Was that Professor…?"

"Yeah."

"And…?"

"Yeah."

"…That's kinda awesome!"

"Jaden!" Syrus exclaimed, amazed that Chazz and Jaden had just had that conversation in the first place.

Jaden looked at Chumley over Chazz's head. Chazz had sunk down, nose-deep in the water, lurking vaguely like a crocodile, letting the hot water open all of his pores and letting the steam wash away all of the impurities that he imagined were on his pale, white face.

Jaden then laughed, and shoved Chazz under the water. He reared back up like some sort of wild sea-monster, flailing out, sputtering, grabbing Jaden and shoving him under before Jaden could even figure out where his arms had been grabbed. He rolled with Chazz underwater, the two of them glaring as they slammed into the rocks along the bottom, skittering towards the deeper sections, glaring and growling at each other.

Then they both burst out of the water, and Chazz threw his head back, sending a shower of glittering water away from him, as Jaden shook his head like a dog. Jaden's little head-shake once more soaked Chazz, so that he had to shake his hair out of his face once more.

"You're an idiot."

"Aw, don't be bitter, Chazz. We're all friends here."

"You're STILL an idiot. Just a friendly idiot." Chazz muttered.

Jaden drew him back against his body as he sank down into his seat, pulling Chazz into his lap. Chazz tried to hit him, but Jaden caught his wrist, and kissed him. Strangely subdued, Chazz relaxed, and spent the remainder of the night kissing Jaden, much to Syrus and Chumley's chagrin. He saw that Chumley was pretending to gag, so he grabbed Jaden's head, and opened his mouth wide, making Jaden respond in turn, their tongues sliding wetly in and out of each other's mouths, both boys moaning.

Chazz pulled back, bloodless face flushed.

"I don't have time to waste like this." Chazz said, getting up, wrapping his towel around his waist before anyone could see anything, and sauntered away from the hotsprings.

"He's so weird…!" Chumley exclaimed.

"He's mean…" Syrus whimpered faintly.

"He's awesome…" Jaden said, watching Chazz's backside as it retreated, swaying.

----

The morning came all too quickly for Chazz's liking. He had popped quite a few pills when he got back, and he was lying on his bed when Jaden came in to wake him. Jaden served as his chipper little alarm, chirping for him to wake up.

"SNOOZE!" Chazz yelled, smacking Jaden in the head.

"Ouch…!" Jaden said, whacking Chazz in the head to wake him up.

Jaden waved a piece of paper in Chazz's face, making the boy sit up with a growl, looking over at the paper.

It was a letter from his brothers,

'Chazz –

Since you are a complete and utter failure at dueling, we've decided we'll try something else. If you screw this up, you are out of this family. We have a modeling shoot set up for you. Hopefully you will be the new face of the Pepsi ad campaign. And you better get out of Slifer Red. Disgraceful.

Jagger'

Chazz just blinked.

"Not that that's not sudden…" He whispered to himself, tugging a black sweater over his head, still staring down at the piece of paper. His sweater was baggy, and it hung huge on his still rather emaciated frame as he pulled on tight jeans and scruffy, large black boots. His spiky hair fell in front of his face, soulful grey eyes narrowed as he threw the scrap of paper into a trash-can.

"Whatever. Screw them." He said, walking outside and lighting a cigarette. His brothers had told him that he was no longer a part of the Princeton family. And he'd be damned before he worked for them again.

"Chazz…? You're gonna die if you smoke those." Jaden said.

Chazz's response was a billow of smoke into his face.

"I want to go down to the ocean." Chazz said suddenly, looking up at Jaden.

Jaden just nodded, and followed Chazz quietly as they picked their way over the hazardous rocks, Chazz occasionally letting out long breaths of smoke as he slipped down the long slopes.

Bastion was already down there, trying to meditate, and practicing his draws. Chazz stood on his hill, picked up a rock, and took aim, taking his cigarette out of his mouth so he could see, fanning away his cloud of smoke.

He then threw the stone in a slight arc.

"OUCH!"

Shrieked Bastion, jumping up. Chazz slid down the hill, brushing some dust off of his boots, smirking faintly. "Oops. I guess I dropped a rock." He said, seeing how Bastion was clutching his head.

Bastion glared at him, unable to even come up with a snarky response, he was so annoyed.

Chazz wandered off down the beach, down to a peaceful little shoal where water crashed all around him. It was dangerous, but beautiful. Jaden came over, sitting next to him. Chazz lay his head on Jaden's shoulder, and Jaden let him. He didn't say anything, just quietly held Chazz. He knew Chazz didn't want anything or anyone judging him right now, despite how he had feigned nonchalance about his brothers getting involved in his life once more.

"You're pretty nice." Chazz finally admitted, breaking the pleasant silence, his words grudging but true. He flicked ash to the rocks, watching as it dissolved within the salty water stains.

Jaden just smiled, and pulled him closer.

YAY! Reviews:

Thanks to (I don't have time to write EVERYONE a note this time): K-GForever, Kath-chan (yay, faithful reviewer from the very beginning!), TheOneYouCallWe (Thanks, love. I try.), The New Shinigami Hikari, Battygirl, Ranma Higurashi, Emiz, and Iceman629. THANKS SO MUCH! I'll try and do individual responses, but I get so many reviews. ".

Snowbluerat: Yay! Someone appreciates my vaguely twisted non-lovey humor! And I think the whole laughing thing probably had to do with how late it was, heeheehee! I write a ton of these things really late at night, so I sympathize. I know it's time to bed when I start to laugh at my own jokes, heeheehee! I'll try to make the chapters longer, but I lose concentration so fast, lol. Thanks!

Alexander The God: You've saved yourself a little place for each review because you leave such long ones. They make me happy. . Heeheehee! I loved your epiphany. I understood it, don't worry. And your little pun made me laugh hysterically (see the review above, it's very late at night here). I hope the whole hot-spring thing lived up to your standards! bows I am your review whore, lol. I like long reviews, bwhahhaha. I checked out some of your fics, too. They're really good.