Jeershipping (Jonouchi Katsuya/Valon | Joey Wheeler/Valon)
. . .
For the first time that he could remember, Valon awoke to the smell of breakfast wafting through the air.
He just lay there for a moment, thinking that perhaps this was a dream. If he closed his eyes and opened them again, he would wake up on that bench he had decided to take a nap on. Or maybe in that cruddy motel room that had been all he was able to afford. But no. He opened and closed his eyes a few times, blinking rapidly to himself, but the bed didn't disappear, the smell didn't disappear, and the fact that it wasn't incredibly cold and drafty in this room didn't disappear.
Right, he thought. I'm crashing at Jou's place.
Now that he was awake, he was beginning to remember what had happened the night before. How Jonouchi had appeared out of nowhere, that stupid grin on his face and his eyes alight with excitement as he tapped Valon on the shoulder. How the other young man had slid into the seat beside him at the bar without even the barest hesitation, as though they hadn't been trying to kill each other the last time they had seen each other. How he had chatted so animatedly, how Valon had felt himself relaxing more and more as the night went on. How for the first time in ages since he had taken off to see what the world held for him now, he felt...happy.
Jonouchi had insisted he stay at his apartment when he found out Valon was planning on crashing at the first motel he found.
"I'm not living with anyone right now; Shizuka just moved into her dorm so it's just me. I've got the space; Shizuka's room is just a guest room right now. She won't mind."
Valon laid there for another brief moment, just enjoying the fact that it smelled like breakfast. He hadn't really known what that was like. He had never actually sat down for a breakfast, to be honest. It was usually just whatever he could grab on the road. Sometimes he didn't eat it at all.
He groaned softly as he finally rolled himself up to a sitting position. It was a weird feeling, he thought. Waking up in a house and not somewhere else.
He didn't think he disliked it much.
Jonouchi was in the kitchen when Valon walked out of the hallway and glanced up from the frying pan where he was frying what looked like pork. He grinned.
"Thought the smell might wake ya," he said. "You hungry?"
"Starved, actually," Valon said, surprised to find that he was, in fact, very hungry. "Need help?"
"Nah. Not really much to do. It ain't anything fancy here."
Valon shrugged.
"I'm sure it's a sight better than what I normally eat." He hesitated. "Thanks."
Jonouchi just snorted, as though it were ridiculous Valon felt the need to thank him.
"Just sit down, ya dork. This should be done."
Valon hesitated a moment before pulling out a chair and sitting gingerly at the side. Jonouchi took the pan off the stove and quickly flipped the fried egg out with a pair of chopsticks and on top of a bowl Then he hopped over to the table, pushing a few dishes towards Valon—a bowl of the fried egg on some kind of bean and rice stuff, and a bowl of soup that Valon couldn't identify.
"It's egg on natto and rice, and miso soup," Jonouchi said. "Not as good at making miso, though, so you don't have to eat that. Ya won't hurt my feelings."
"Well, it smells good," Valon said.
He hesitated for just a moment, watching Jonouchi under his bangs to make sure he knew he was using the chopsticks right. He had never actually used them before, and he wasn't sure how you were supposed to eat soup with them. He tried to break up the egg with the chopsticks so that he could awkwardly maneuver a bit of rice and egg to his mouth. The flavor exploded in his mouth, and he just had to sit there for a moment, chewing slowly, thinking about every moment of the taste. He tried the soup next, and that had the same, glorious effect.
"I didn't know you could cook," Valon said, impressed in spite of himself.
Jonouchi laughed.
"Everyone's always surprised," he said. "I had to learn how—deadbeat dad never made anything. Lived off of beer three meals a day."
Valon hesitated in the middle of his next bite. Jonouchi's dad...huh? Come to think of it, Valon didn't know anything about Jonouchi at all. All he knew about the guy was that he was kind of obnoxious, overly determined, cared a lot about his friends, and was too nice for his own good.
Was that why Jonouchi didn't drink anything last night? Valon found himself thinking as he chewed. Because his dad was an alcoholic?
He considered this, swallowing the way-too-delicious food, a comfort that he couldn't remember having...ever. No one had ever cooked for him before. He had lived off of prison dinners and whatever was cheapest at the bar.
"So, how long ya staying in Japan?" Jonouchi said. "I'm sure the others'd love to see ya. And I don't have a problem with you crashing here, if you don't have any place else for now."
Valon glanced up at Jonouchi. The young man was pretty engrossed in his food, and didn't catch Valon's gaze. Valon looked down at his own plate of food. He popped another glorious bite of rice and natto into his mouth.
"I dunno," he said. Longer than I thought I would, he didn't say out loud. "Hadn't decided."
. . .
A/N: Aw, that was cuter than I thought it would be! Next up is Jasmineshipping (Thief King Bakura x Kisara x Marik Ishtar).
