Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds
Sins and Virtues
By Lucky_Ladybug
Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! I was going to post something else first, but I got this initially silly plunnie and wanted to do it next. I love pitting Radley and Malcolm against each other and having Radley snark with wonderful sarcasm at Malcolm's nonsense. Radley is a nice guy, as always. Canon is so vague about him, I don't feel it's going against canon to write him that way.
Malcolm was not known for respecting personal space. Radley knew this and it didn't surprise him. But somehow it surprised Kalin when, one night after about a month of his wins, an extremely drunk Malcolm barged into the diner bawling for Radley to come out.
"He's upstairs in his office," Kalin grunted as he sat at a table with a glass of cactus cider. "And I don't think he'll be happy to see you."
"Well, fine! I'm not happy to see him either!" Malcolm yelled, and stormed up the stairs to Radley's office. He flung the door wide, banging it on the wall, and looked around wildly for his nemesis. "Where are you, Radley?! Come out and face me!"
There was no answer, but the obvious sound of water running was coming from the connecting bathroom.
Malcolm blustered over, again banging a door as he rushed the bathroom, and then pulled the shower curtain aside when he found it drawn too. Completely ignoring his enemy's state of undress and what he was doing, Malcolm proceeded to yell. "Radley, you yellow-livered, lowdown . . . !"
He dissolved into a string of colorful oaths that Radley promptly blocked from his mind. He turned around very deliberately, holding his soapy hair in one hand, and regarded Malcolm with a highly unimpressed sneer.
"You barge into my bathroom and have the nerve to start screaming curses at me?" he said. "I should be the one doing that. Only I wouldn't, because I don't consider it an artistic triumph to talk like my mouth is a garbage can."
"You . . . !" Malcolm grabbed him by the shoulders and then froze as soap and shampoo immediately dripped onto his hands.
Radley was inwardly laughing at his flummoxed expression. Outwardly he just continued to sneer. "So you're mad that I have a better Duelist than any of yours. I get it. And I get that you decided to get completely smashed because you felt so jealous that we were smarter than you every day this month. But I am surprised that you extended your jealousy to coming over and quite insisting on witnessing the glorious sight of all of me!"
That finally seemed to register. Malcolm stepped back, blinking in surprise. The realization of what he had done seeped into his drunken mind and his cheeks started to turn red for a reason other than the alcohol.
Radley couldn't resist milking the situation a bit more. Although he didn't get visibly angry, his annoyance with Malcolm was dripping in every word. "I mean, I know I'm irresistible, but really, allow me some privacy!"
". . . Darn it, Radley, you know I wasn't interested in coming over to look at you!" Malcolm sputtered at last.
"Oh? Then what were you interested in coming over for?" Radley countered. "Didn't you come to talk to me? Or rather, to yell at me?"
"Of course I did!" Malcolm roared. "I'm sick of you and your attitude, you coyote!"
"And since you didn't call on the phone, you must have wanted to yell at me in person, right?"
"Darn-tootin' I did!" Malcolm snapped.
"Which means you wanted to look at me while you were yelling at me." Radley sneered in triumph at proving his point.
Malcolm shook his fists in the air and started a new round of yelling and cursing. Completely fed-up by now, Radley just pulled the shower curtain back and resumed his cleansing. If Malcolm was sober he would just turn and leave, but in his current state he was in no mood to do so.
At last the Bunch rushed upstairs and into the bathroom, followed by Kalin. "Okay, it's time to go bye-bye," Scotch said, copying Radley's silly speech pattern. He and others grabbed Malcolm, forcefully steering him towards the door and outside while he continued to yell.
Kalin lingered, folding his arms and leaning back against the sink. "How did he get in here?" he grunted.
"I suppose because you didn't stop him from coming up," Radley remarked from behind the curtain. ". . . And because I didn't think I had to lock the door in my own office."
"You're too trusting," Kalin said.
"Strangely, I've thought I'm very cynical," Radley mused. "I guess I've still got a long way to go." He finished rinsing and turned off the water. "I'm coming out now. You can stay or go. I don't care."
Kalin pushed away from the sink. "You really are proud of yourself, aren't you?"
"I'm not embarrassed." Radley peeked out of the curtain, his hair dripping all over his shoulders and the rim of the tub. "And somehow I can't picture you caring either. But you're not conceited, are you?"
". . . You're right," Kalin said, conceding his remark was uncalled-for. There were multiple reasons why someone might not mind.
Radley pushed the curtain the rest of the way over and stepped out, going to the cupboard for a towel. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Kalin's gaze never drifted below his shoulders. Malcolm, by contrast, had looked him up and down once he had realized what he was doing.
"Now, I can't deny I know I have a pleasing body," Radley smirked as he started to dry himself off. "But I've never flaunted that."
". . . No, you haven't," Kalin consented.
"I mean, if you heard any of the stuff I was saying to Malcolm, I was just being sarcastic," Radley said. "I was pretty mad. I don't talk like that in general unless I'm joking or trying to get somebody's goat."
"You always manage to get Malcolm's," Kalin said.
"Sometimes it's just too easy to mess with his head," Radley said. "And I kinda feel like he deserves it when he goes and does things like this."
"Probably," Kalin said noncommittally.
"And even though I like how I look, I don't go disrobing in front of people." Radley wasn't sure why he felt the need to tell that to Kalin. For some reason, he didn't want Kalin to misunderstand him or have a negative view of him. Usually he just let people think whatever they would, figuring they wouldn't believe him anyway. But with Kalin, he desperately wanted to be believed.
"You're not a male stripper then." Kalin was still completely deadpan.
"Yeah, no, that's not my thing. Not even my girlfriend ever saw me like this," Radley said.
"You really are virtuous," Kalin grunted. But the way he said it made it sound like sarcasm.
Radley smirked at Kalin over the top of the towel. "I'm not a saint. It's just that my sins aren't in that category." He finished drying off and went for his clothes.
"What category are they in?" Kalin asked.
Radley shrugged. "We both know I'm greedy . . . prideful . . . vain. Hmm, that's three of the seven deadly sins right there, isn't it? Or two anyway; vanity might be mixed in with pride. Lust and wrath . . . those have never been a problem for me. Envy, gluttony . . . not really those either. I think I forgot the last one. Eh, oh well."
Kalin didn't comment. He did indeed still think Radley was greedy, and not much, if any, better than Malcolm. The truth was all around him, but he was too lost in depression to see it.
"Sloth! That was it." Radley laughed. "Yeah, that's not me either. Malcolm, maybe."
". . . What about the seven heavenly virtues?" Kalin spoke in a half-sarcastic deadpan, probably not really caring but saying it to say something.
"Oh, hmm." Radley pondered. "Chastity, temperance, charity, kindness, diligence, patience, humility. Well, we can toss humility out right now. I've got a long way to go on that one."
"Are you even working on it?" Kalin wondered.
Radley paused, pretending to ponder on it. ". . . No," he said smoothly, matter-of-factly. At Kalin's flat stare, he giggled and added, "At least I'm honest about it."
Kalin didn't really care.
Radley was still interested in playing the new game. "Chastity, yes. Temperance, yes. The others? You can figure those out. Am I kind? Charitable? Diligent?"
"You put up with the Bunch. You have the patience of Job," Kalin said.
"Hey, I love those guys," Radley said. "A better example for patience is that I put up with you!"
Kalin didn't deny it. "And you've fought this war with Malcolm for . . . four years. You're completely diligent."
"And the others?" Radley spoke easily, casually, as though it didn't matter to him what Kalin said.
Kalin gave him a long look. He averted his gaze, not speaking.
Now Radley cared. Hurt flickered through his eyes and he turned away too, pulling on his pants over his shorts. "Oh."
Kalin ignored the prick in his heart at Radley's sad tone. ". . . I wonder what Malcolm will say or do at the duel tomorrow," he grunted instead.
"Honestly? If he remembers this incident at all, I think he'll pretend it didn't happen," Radley said, pushing aside his wounded feelings as he always did. "Sure, he could try to say he caught me off-guard in a very vulnerable position, but hopefully even he would realize that it would just backfire and he would end up looking the fool, since I would fill in the rest of the story about how he barged in like an idiot to yell at me in the shower. Although when it's Malcolm, who knows."
Kalin felt sure Malcolm would be capable of doing any stupid thing.
"Hey, thanks for finally getting the Bunch together to rout him out," Radley said as he pulled on a fresh shirt. "I was prepared to get out of the tub and start dressing in front of him, but I really didn't want to. I'm okay with doing it in front of you, but you're not yelling and cursing me every two words."
Kalin just nodded with a grunt.
"Silent Sam again, huh?" Radley sighed and took his leather jacket in his arms. "Well, I'm going downstairs for some dinner. You need to eat more, Kalin. Come on and join me."
Kalin could have objected, and perhaps he ordinarily would have. But tonight he agreeably went.
xxxx
He looked so sad and still, lying turned away on the ground.
Kalin came up on him from behind and lifted him into his arms. He fell limply into place, limbs completely slack, eyes closed, his lips slightly parted. . . .
Very dead.
Kalin held him for a long moment, numb, unable to process the reality of it.
Killed trying to save Jordan in the mines.
Brought to this after years of struggling to save the town.
The memory of an old conversation came back to Kalin and he paused, mulling it over in his mind.
The seven deadly sins. . . .
Radley hadn't really embodied many of those. And when he had asked about the seven heavenly virtues, Kalin had denied that he was charitable or kind. Thinking back on it now, Kalin could hear the hurt in Radley's voice when he had responded to Kalin's coldness.
Not charitable? Not kind?
After taking in the Bunch and putting up with their craziness? After always making sure Kalin ate something and didn't sleep outside in the cold? After never giving up on reaching out to him, no matter how Kalin continued to hurt him?
After protecting the town for years?
After dying for Jordan?
A sob choked from Kalin's lips and he clutched his boss close.
