Dragonshipping (Jonouchi Katsuya/Yami no Yugi)
. . .
"That was the funniest thing I've ever seen."
"...Can it, Jonouchi."
Jonouchi tried to hold in his chortle for Yami Yugi's sake, but it was a wasted effort. He glanced over his shoulder at the boy on his back to be rewarded with a rare glimpse of the spirit of the Puzzle blushing.
The sun was setting behind them, sending the pair into a cast shadow. Jonouchi had Yami Yugi on his back, holding him up with his arms under the shorter boy's knees, one of Yami Yugi's feet shoe-less and wrapped in a makeshift compression bandage.
"You were so badass right up until you slipped," Jonouchi said, trying not to laugh too hard lest he drop Yami Yugi. "I can't believe you twisted your ankle right in front of that dude, right after beating him at your shadow game."
"He won't remember it happened after he finishes his punishment game," Yami Yugi mumbled into Jonouchi's shoulder.
"I will, though."
"I command you to forget it."
"Nope. Too priceless—besides, I'm carrying ya home, aren't I?"
"I said you didn't have to..."
"You ain't walking on that for a while, bud. Gotta get some ice and shit on it."
Yami Yugi grumbled a little bit more, but Jonouchi just hefted him a little more firmly onto his back and kept walking with a grin on his face.
"You usually don't stay out very long after a game, though," Jonouchi said. "Any reason why?"
Yami Yugi hesitated for a moment.
"Are you saying you'd rather talk to the other Yugi? Because I can switch back—"
His voice was actually...nervous and a little bit sad, as though he were assuming that Jonouchi didn't want to see him. Jonouchi almost tripped with his hurry to fix that assumption.
"No, that's not what I'm saying at all! I love both of ya, but I don't get to see you a lot, and I was just wonderin' what the occasion was."
"O-Oh," Yami Yugi said. He was really awkward when he wasn't in a game, wasn't he? It was kind of adorable. He wasn't just the dark avenging spirit of the pharaoh that protected Yugi and the others...he was pretty human, too. "I just thought...my ankle hurts a lot. I didn't want my partner to feel it."
Jonouchi nodded.
"You're a really nice person, aren't ya?" he said.
Jonouchi felt Yami Yugi's face burrow a bit against Jonouchi's shoulder, and he wondered if the boy was blushing again.
"I'm really...not..." he said quietly. "Not like Yugi...or you...I'm actually a pretty horrible person, if I think about it..."
Jonouchi stopped dead in his tracks, and he felt Yami Yugi straighten up a bit, his hands squeezing into Jonouchi's shoulders in surprise.
"What are you..."
"Don't say things like that," Jonouchi said, his laugh gone. "Don't say things like that about yourself."
"But..."
"No. No buts."
He looked back over his shoulder at him, at the spirit of the Puzzle, the ghost of the pharaoh that shared his friend's face. His eyes were crimson, cast in shadow from the sun behind his spiky silhouette.
He looked...young, Jonouchi thought. Without his overbearing presence in the face of an opponent...he looked small. Vulnerable. Maybe even more so than Yugi ever did.
"You're mind and Yuge's best friend," Jonouchi said softly. "And there's a reason for that. So don't put yourself down like that."
Yami Yugi just stared at him for a moment, lips parted. Then he huffed, and ducked his head back against Jonouchi's shoulder, probably to hide the red that crept over his cheeks.
"Okay," he said,quietly, like a scolded child. And then, in almost a whisper, "thank you."
Jonouchi smiled, and hefted Yami Yugi back into his grip better.
"Welcome," he said. "Let's get ya home, huh?"
. . .
A/N: I love this ship. Next is Doubtshipping (Ryo x Marik x Seto).
