DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! They all belong to Kazuki Takahashi!
WARNING: This contains slight shounen-ai and Yaoi hinting. Meaning boyxboy shit. Fuck off if you find it offensive.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O- Indicates end of scene. Because, c'mon, you can tell which one's a dream and which one's real, right?
THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS! I will now not give personalized reviews, because this story has reached over 100 reviews, on this site and others! Thank you for supporting me despite the lack of updates!
... BUT GAH. 99 reviews here! Next reviewer gets next chapter dedicated to them! X3!
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WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, CHAPTER 10
Let me not mar that perfect Dream
By an Auroral stain
But so adjust my daily Night
That it will come again.
Not when we know, the Power accosts --
The Garment of Surprise
Was all our timid Mother wore
At Home -- in Paradise.
-Emily Dickinson
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"Ok, Joooou-chan! This is your last day! Aren't you just ecstatic?"
"I was only here for a night, Fuji-chan! And don't call me that!"
"Seems like an eternity for me, Jou-CHAN! I'll be missing your presence dearly." The last part was said dryly as the male nurse wrapped the last of Jou's wounds around his side, making Jou shiver from the cold hands touching his skin.
"Fuji-chan! Your hands are cold! Stop touching me!"
"What can I say? You're irresistible!" He heard the grin behind that and laughed, haphazardly striking a pose (due to the wound still being sore).
"Oh, I know. My American-like good looks attracts thousands. You're only another scratch on the wall!"
"Only! Jou-chan, I'm hurt! I thought I was so much more!"
They both grinned at each other, trying not to laugh at the looks Jou's room must have been getting from their little 'charade'.
For the last day (well, not even 24 hours, really…), they had started to play a little game: See how much they could hit on the other, and see if they could turn it around when it was them being hit on. And…
That was it, really. Just see how much times the other could hit on the other, and/or turn it around. So far, it was:
Jounouchi Katsuya: 7 ½
Fuji Yukio: 10
Hitting on both of them at the same time: 2
The last one was their because they couldn't decide who won what. It was quickly turning into 3, too, on Jou's part.
"You're not the only one who thinks that, Fuji-chan! There are a millions others! Hell, even myself! I'm jealous of my own good looks!"
"But… Jou-chan!" The voice became dramatic, the brunette trying not to bust a gut laughing as he saw the blonde boy trying to do the same. "I want to marry you!"
At this point in time, the blue-eyed boy usually flung himself in a kind of hug-tackle (which, in girl terms, was called a 'glomp'). And he did that in the exact fashion he usually did, meaning that he carefully avoided the wound by nestling his head in Jou's lap with the rest of his body still half off the bed.
"Jounouchi-kun, Your medications are i- Oh."
They hadn't even noticed the older woman nurse come in, they were so busy trying to embarrass each other. Too late now to spring apart and act as if nothing was happening, right?
They grinned as the woman stared. When she spoke, her voice was tight and high, as if she were nervous. Or scared. Or both. Either was good.
"Oh, your medication is at the counter Jounouchi-kun, pick it up and you're on your way. Have a nice…" Fuji decided to bury his head deeper into Jou's lap, making said blonde snort. "Uh, Day!"
She left quickly after that, and they waited for a few seconds after she was gone before they burst into fits off laughter that had them short-breathed and gasping after only a minute or two.
As soon as they calmed down enough for them to only giggle a bit when they looked at each other, the male nurse scooted over so that he was only sitting on the end of the bed instead of on Jou's knees. His face became contemplative as Jou looked upwards (to quell his giggles), who hadn't even noticed the change of mood in his friend.
"Jou-kun?"
The blonde looked down again and didn't even have the urge to laugh, as he had before, when he looked at the now serious brunette. "Yeah?"
"I know I shouldn't be doing this… But you've been keeping me entertained for the last couple of hours… Ya know, since the hospital is boring and all… So…"
Jou looked at him worriedly as the pale-boy looked down, looking lost in thought.
For the last day, Fuji had become a quick friend that loved joking as much as he did. Sure, he was serious when he was supposed to be, and joking at the times he wasn't supposed to be. That was why the blonde felt instantly attracted to him. He hadn't even seen the brunette this serious, though! Not even when he was talking about Gatchoka-sama (his favorite patient), a deaf old-timer on the brink of death and in the painful throes of cancer.
"So…" His eyes quickly scanned the room, as if someone was already in there and watching both of their every move, and then scanned the outside of the door before he reached over and grabbed Jou's jeans, stuffing something that crinkled inside of the tight pocket.
Wait… Was that…!
"Shit, Fuji! You're gonna get me in trouble with that kind of shit! Especially if I get found with it!" He whispered furiously, eyeing his now-bulging jeans pocket.
"I know, I know!" The brunette looked slightly exasperated, like a dog about to be caged. The tension rose and broke each time someone passed the door, and the blue-eyed boy leaned towards Jou to whisper even more quietly then he had been before.
"Especially with you're old man in jail, right?" The blonde shot him an angry glare and he rolled his eyes. "You know I don't give a shit about what he did. But it's to help the pain, Jounouchi-kun! You don't know how bad an infected wound can get, even if treated with the proper medications and such! So that's to help the pain subside a little more! I'm doing this for you, not tog et you in trouble!"
The blonde looked doubtful, and the brunette sighed again. "Only to help. If you get caught with it before you drop it off at your home or whatever, you can come and directly put the blame on me. I won't care. I actually like you as a friend! And I look out for my friends!"
The brown-eyed duelist gave it a second thought before sighing, giving into the blue-eyed boy's trump card. Damn Fuji for knowing his loyalty to his friends (Except for, of course, Honda at the moment, whom he was a little less angry at for saving him). "OK, ok, Fuji! I'll be careful and not get caught, ok? So you won't get in trouble and all."
He threw his legs over the bedspread and grinned easily, the tension and anger dropped. "Now get lost and let me get dressed. Go visit Gatchoka-sama or whatever. I'll visit in a week or so, or when I get shot again."
They both laughed, although a little nervously from the presence of the bag in Jou's pocket. The brunette spoke next, taking care to slap the blonde teenager's back very lightly. "Alrigh, Jou-kun. See ya in a week or so."
"Yeah, later!"
When the brunette left, Jou sighed and dragged his jeans over to his bed and slowly started putting them on. He was desperately hoping he wouldn't get caught with the bag in his pants. Especially since it was full of 'that illegal stuff'.
He sighed.
God damn the man that made Tuesday mornings.
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"What… The fuck is this?"
Jou blinked as he stared at white envelope that had been lying on his school shoes when he opened his locker. He blinked again when he noticed that it had something large in it. Really large. Inch-large.
A feeling of suspicion slowly rose in him as he thought about what it would be. Drugs to sabotage him (Never mind the fact that he still had the drugs his nursefriend had given him in his pocket)? A hate mail? Something that could possibly hurt him if he touched it? Well, he was pretty sure it wasn't something good; after what his father did, it wasn't worthy of praise or prize.
Cautiously, he fingered the tip of the envelope before pulling it towards him and feeling around the edges of the content. It wasn't drugs, because drugs weren't so hard… If it was hate mail, it would be thinner… If it was supposed to hurt him, he was pretty sure it would have hurt him by now…
What was square, big, thick, and roughly the size of a rectangle?
He laughed at the first thought that popped up into his mind: money. A big, big pile of money! Maybe 100 dollar bills! Maybe even a thousand dollar bills!
He snorted as he ran his fingernail under the flap that sealed the envelope closed, tearing it open jaggedly. Yeah. Money. That'd be the day that happened. He grabbed the edge of the object (still cautiously) and pulled it out, fully expecting a can of sardines. It wasn't money. No one would give him mon-
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"
The few people in the hallway stopped and looked at him oddly, and he quickly feigned an injury of some kind by shaking the hand that hadn't been inside the bag, all the while thrusting the hand that held the object he had pulled out.
"Ah… Owwww! OW!"
He grinned sheepishly, still shaking his hand, and they all slowly turned away or walked to the destinations they were going before they were rudely interrupted by his yelling. Once the blonde saw that he wasn't being paid attention too anymore, he turned his wide eyes on the 'present' he had received.
A big pile of 500 dollar bills. The kind you saw in the fucking movies. It was an inch thick. He estimated about $20,000. Probably more.
"Holy fucking shit…" He muttered to himself, stroking the edge of the money before thrusting it back into the envelope and feeling around for anything else. A pause and he pulled out a much thinner piece of paper, plain white and with a cursive, black pen adorning the surface of it. On closer inspection, he saw that the writing was sticking straight up and looked very formal.
Well. That definitely ruled out the possibility of Moneybags. And he knew that Otogi usually wrote simply, with loops in the y's and curly o's. And he knew none of his friends had this much money. The school wouldn't raise any money for him, because, hello, his father was a fucking molester, why would they give his kid this much money?
Quickly ending his contemplating on who-done-it, the blonde looked closely at the writing as he read.
"I know I shouldn't be giving this to you, but I know you need it. Use it however you wish, for bailing your father out of jail or buying yourself a good home.
Take care, Jounouchi Katsuya."
Unsigned, of course. If he knew who had given him this money, hell, he'd do anything for the person. Even fucking 'sexual favors' (a quick picture of Mae when he thought this, and he reminded himself to call her later)!
He quickly shoved the envelope with the money into the very back of his locker and shared a secret grin with himself, grabbing his shoes and books and whatever else he need, and slamming the metal door closed.
Never mind Tuesday mornings sucking. They were fucking awesome!
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Hoisting himself up onto the top of the roof that was over the door, Jou sighed and scooted closer to the edge to look down over the school fence.
He took a second to admire the beautiful view before dropping his backpack and laying his head on it, resting his arms above him and stretching languidly.
It was too nice a day to be stuck inside, eating lunch. He didn't even have a lunch, for that matter. Plus, he was still slightly mad at Honda, even though the boy had saved him (even though he hadn't asked said boy this yet). It would be annoying to sit at the same table as him while the brunette tried apologizing with his stare.
Because… C'mon. He had a right to be mad! What Honda had said was unacceptable by any standard! So damned personal too. What kinda guy said something like that out loud to everyone?
Come to think of it, actually… This was the first time since he knew Honda (or remembered), that he had been mad at him for this long. Then again, all the reasons he'd been mad at him before had not been that personal or secretive. Honda didn't go around and blab stuff like that unless he had a moment of stupidity.
The blonde shrugged his quickly tangling web of thoughts and guilt off and half-closed his eyes, relaxing and trying to enjoy the puffy clouds floating in the perfect blue sky. Whatever. His loss. His own fault for bringing up such a touchy subject at the beginning of class. He still had the right to be angry.
The blonde teenager let out a happy sigh as the sun washed over him and shoved those depressing kind of thoughts out of his mind in place of happier ones.
For one, he had money, and a lot of it, now. Two, Seto Kaiba hadn't been here today. Three, his wound wasn't bugging him. And four… While, shit, a guy could be happy for no reason for once in his life, right!
He let his eyes drift the rest of the way closed and let his mind wander to other topics, not caring when he felt the irresistible call of sleep tugging at his subconscious. Naps were good. And if he had a Dream, who cared? It was-
(- Icy blue eyes looked at him, burning through him as hands ran over his sides, roaming over the wound tenderly and stroking it with care before moving past it to his ribs -)
-A perfect day that couldn't be ruined by Seto Kaiba, and that was the best kind of day… -
(- Brown hair caught in his fingertips as he released a loud moan, arching into the touch of fingertips dancing over his abdomen and lower. Pleasure was all he could think of, and Kaiba was all he could feel -)
-And when he got his dad out of jail, everything would be perfect again, whatever 'perfect' had been before…-
( - Lips on his, devouring him whole and he sucked lightly on the tongue invading his mouth. Moaned when teeth lightly bit at his lips. Gasped when one hand wrapped around him and stroked teasingly-)
- When he left here, it would be on an air of happiness because Seto Kaiba wouldn't be there and his father couldn't hold him back…-
(- Something, his lover's finger, stroked his entrance and he pushed into the feeling of heavy pleasure it gave. After a moan, and there was Seto at his entrance, pushing in slowly and making him practically sob with joy -)
- He'd pass this year. He knew he'd pass this year. He'd be in the last 50, sure, but he'd make it -
(- Then they were slowly rocking together now, leaving him breathless with ecstasy will the man on top of him breathed in his scent. Deeper and deeper into the desire he fell until he let out a low cry, arching while calling his lover's name -)
"…Seto…"
And then there was a loud bang from under him and he shot up, quickly falling back to lie down while he listened to the quiet giggles and low laughter coming from the ground.
"Ah, Nano-chan, you're so beautiful!"
"Oh, Keiji-kun, you're making me blush!"
"It's so true though, Nano-chan! You look like Utada Hikaru!"
"Keiji-kun!"
A quiet giggle and he decided to take a curious peek. Turning over onto his stomach, he scooted up until he could barely see the couple over the room of the stair roof.
Keiji (or what he guessed was Keiji, because that was a boy's name) had his arms wrapped around what was probably 'Nano-chan's' waist. They were looking at each other in adoration, Keiji grinning like a fool while Nano giggled every few second.
He took a few more seconds of looking at the two before scooting back down the small roof, resting in the position he had been in before.
The blonde stared up at the still-blue sky as he tried to ignore the happy giggles and laughs coming from the couple, and instead tried focusing on the feeling that had suddenly grew in his stomach and made him feel sick.
He wondered what he was feeling but he shrugged it off and turned over onto his side, closing his eyes and concentrating harder on blocking the noises and thinking of homework and work in general.
The brown-eyed boy started drifting off and yawned, finally giving into the sounds of a couple.
Before he drifted over for the second, he had a sudden flash of enlightenment and finally managed to pinpoint the feelings that were making him feel sick.
' Envy and Loneliness…'
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"JOU! JOU!"
The blonde ignored his name being called out and continued walking down the street (albeit a little slower then before), hands shoved deep in his pockets as he walked. He was hoping to God that his friend would give up, just this once, but…
Of course not.
"Jou!"
Ah. Honda was right behind him. Stepping-on-his-heels behind him. And practically yelling in his ear.
"What! Don't yell man, I'm not deaf ya know." He scowled, trying to turn away from the worried-looking brunette. He could sense the flinch of the other when he turned his back on him and started walking again, and he scowled at his own actions.
What kind of friend was he? Turning his back on a guy trying to apologize! A guy that had been with him since, what, kindergarten gang-ups? Plus, this guy had saved him from bleeding to death!
Just as he was about to turn around and apologize, he heard something that made him freeze-up and caused his mind to shut down.
"Well, shit, Jounouchi, it's not the end of the world since you're pops molested those girl, for fuck's sake!"
He whirled around awkwardly, feet practically catching on each other as his brown eyes widened. It took him a second before he even realized that what Honda said hadn't been an illusion, and the real thing. By the time he figured that out, a few people had stopped to stare and whisper.
He did the only thing he could think of.
By the time he had comprehended what he had done, the brunette was lying on the ground and staring up in surprise at the blonde, whose fist was still posed in the air from the punch he had delivered to his 'friend'.
They stared at each other until the blonde scowled and turned away, giving his friend a sideways glare.
"If you even talk about my Pop one more time, Hiroto, I won't be there to save your ass when you piss off some gang leader."
Not directly saying he'd never be his friend again, but… While, saying he wouldn't be there.
Which is what Jou wanted to be at the moment. Not there.
So he followed his instinct and walked away until he was at the nearest alley, turning into it and walking a little.
And then he ran.
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Well, that was quite a short chapter XD;. Only around 3000 words, and hardly then barely… Plus a lot of scene changes…
And the (-) WERE FLASHES OF DREAMS, to tell you all who didn't get it.
Damn, that sucks XD. Oh well. Short chapter and all….
BEWARE, for the real drama starts next chapter XP!
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Just joking XD.