The first thing Yusaku saw when he came home was his bed littered with masks. And not the kind you would find people sporting for theatrical productions either, no; these were the smaller and more sophisticated ones that were designed to only partially cover the face. The kind Ai swooned over in films full of glitz and an unbearable amount of glitter, where actors danced and sipped drinks from underneath the impractical feathers resting on their face. The kind you would wear at a masquerade ball...

Yusaku stopped dead in his tracks, school bag still swinging from his shoulder as Ai, who had been busy running fingers over a black mask, one with highly stylised butterfly wings branching out on either side, stared up at him expectantly, an excited light coming to life in his eyes.

'We're not going,' Yusaku said firmly.

Ai's face fell into a pout. 'Ah, stingy Yusaku is back,' he said with a sullen air, as though Yusaku was an overly strict parent. 'Content to just let life pass him by, rather than get swept up into the actual fun parts...'

His fingers slid off the mask he had been admiring and danced over to a far plainer one, where a simple pattern was splayed out across it like a domino. The colours were a simple gray and green and looking at it, Yusaku was faintly surprised; for there was no glitter to it, no pomp at all, and it was one hundred percent not Ai's style in the slightest. A mystery soon solved once Ai picked it up and whirled round, bouncing over to Yusaku to push the mask up over the bridge of his nose. It fit perfectly which was another non-surprise. Ai was uncannily good with calculations and measurements, after all.

'Come on...'Ai wheedled. 'How often do Link Vrains arrange grand events like this?'

'Every week,' Yusaku fired back. 'So I'm sure you'll find something just as 'fun' to do next week when they arrange another duelling tournament or a Blue Angel Concert.'

Ai's face screwed up. 'You're missing the point. Those events happen all the time, as you so nicely pointed out. But this! A Masquerade ball!' Ai clasped his hands together in excitement, a strangely dreamy look stealing over his face. 'One with actual people in where you and I can go and weeelll...' he gave Yusaku a sly look. 'Be supremely handsome? Have you fall for me all over again?'

Yusaku closed his eyes in resignation as Ai not so tactfully elbowed him in the side.

'I mean, we should jump at the chance, right? Zaizen's dreary company only seem to make the effort to push these events out there once every few months! And okay, okay, it's not like I expect you to dance or duel there, or do anything too exciting, just...come be with me?'

Yusaku opened his eyes again at the way his partner's voice had trailed off softly into a question. Only to regret it as Ai visibly perked up again, realising that yes, indeed, Yusaku was actually listening to him. 'You can be my 'plus one!'' He popped out the phrase with a delighted air, expression lighting up into one far brighter than any of the lights Yusaku owned in this wretched apartment. 'Heh-heh. I've always wanted to say that...'

Yusaku stared at him. Then at the masks spilled out over his duvet cover. They were all so tacky, tacky in the same over-done fashion Ai was so fond of, unlike the mask that was now stuck to his face, the one Ai had actually put some thought into getting for him, well aware that Yusaku's sense of style was anything but.

'Clear this up,' he found himself demanding stiffly. 'There's no point to this mess; the event's in the virtual world, not the real one. I don't even know why you thought this was necessary.'

Ai swayed from side to side, lightly. 'Ah, don't be mad. I just wanted a taste-run, like one of those teasers they show for movies! Urgh, you're so boring.'

'Now, Ai. And then maybe I'll think about coming.'

The smile that crossed Ai's face at that remark was blinding. And it made Yusaku feel both lucky and unfortunate at the exact same time.

'Really? It's a date then!'

'I didn't say I would...'

Ai chuckled and began carefully – and far too lovingly in Yusaku's opinion – picking up the masks and sorting them into a purple hat box he had yanked unceremoniously from beneath the bed. Yusaku really didn't want to know where any of these things had come from. It was just yet more clutter he would have to find a home for.

Most irritatingly of all though, Ai was acting as though Yusaku had made him a promise, humming to himself as though he had gotten exactly what he wanted and Yusaku's token refusal was just a front. Worse still of course, was the fact he was right.

Yusaku glared at all the chandeliers, at all those overdone and very silvery fountains of glass, where improbable shapes, like the face of Duel Monsters, were arranged on their golden frames. There were even floating lanterns, buoyed up tiny fairy-type monsters circulating the hall. Though he could have sworn he saw a Linkuriboh bouncing around with a candle attached to its head earlier...Yusaku pushed that disturbing vision aside, promptly decided it wasn't his problem, and chose to glare at the wine glasses instead. Said glare then wandered over to the glint of gold from the plates beside them, all weighed down with food far too fancy and expensive for him to ever afford.

Well, technically, he supposed he could afford it. They were in the Vrains network here, and it wasn't as though he would have to fork out any extra credits from his account in order to partake in the experience of 'eating' any of the food. It was all mental of course, the taste designed to trigger the neurons in the brain that were responsible for detecting the signals that were transmitted from human taste-buds. He had always thought it a bit of waste, really, given that you couldn't derive actual substance from it.

Ai, of course, loved it. He couldn't eat in the real world; not unless he wanted to fish out pieces of crisped salmon and charred grains of rice from the smoking hardware that actually made his SOLtiS body work. Or rather, Yusaku would have had to have been the one to do it; Ai would probably be jerking in small motorised spasms if he ever were stupid enough to 'play human' that way.

Still, Ai had designed a similar neural interface for himself when he had first threaded his data into a human shape, enough for him to actually experience the sensation of taste on here; whether it felt exactly the same for him as it did for every other human here, Yusaku couldn't say. Still, as he watched Ai push a small steamed bun full of digital duck into his mouth and make happy 'mmm' noises, even closing his eyes as though to focus on the taste, Yusaku found himself not minding the over-exaggerated sounds too much. So long as they didn't wander into obscenity, it was fine.

He did however mind when Ai darted over to him and waved the plate full of what seemed to be an entire mountain of steamed buns in front of his face.

'You want one?'

Yusaku crossed his arms. He felt ridiculous, tucked away under his usual Playmaker avatar, but this time with the addition of the sleek gray and green mask Ai had bullied onto his face. He had thought about designing a new avatar but then realised, after glancing through a few forum posts that there would be other people imitating his look, as well as Soulburner's and Blue Angel's, and sure enough he had already spotted at least seven Playmaker lookalikes in this hall alone. And if worse came to worse, he had no problem passing himself off as an overzealous fan.

H glanced at Ai, who of course had decided to tuck himself inside an even more elaborate suit than usual, gold glitter winding its way across his shirt and jacket in curved tendrils even grander that the Ignis style patterns he usually favoured. The mask he wore was a flowery affair too, thick butterfly-like wings spreading out above his eyes, with glimmering purple sinking deeply into the veins that spread through them with a rich ambient glow.

Ai stared at him, cheeks pumped out with a half-'chewed' bun. 'What?' he asked in a snappish tone – or what Yusaku imagined he had been going for. It was hard to tell when his mouth was full. 'C'mon, c'mon; eat up!' He shoved the plate at his partner insistently, and after a moment of thought, swallowed his mouthful.

'No,' Yusaku answered, and left it at that.

Ai, of course, did not. 'Come oooon,' he wheedled, spinning the plate round on a few fingers as though they were the axis of an entirely new world. Yusaku eyed a few buns that wobbled perilously at the edge, ready to slip and slide away onto the marble tiled floor and decided to do nothing; Ai could clear up his own mess. 'Just one? It won't kill you.' Ai smiled, slowly, like a villain. 'I'll even hand-feed you one...' he left the offer dangling as though it was meant to be some great temptation that Yusaku would find difficult to resist.

Yusaku for his part just gave him a look and then looked away. 'I'm surprised you're not out there dancing.' He nodded towards a few couples out on the floor twirling away inside the space of each other's arms.

Ai actually looked a little awkward. 'Well, I don't just want to dance with anyone...' He slid Yusaku a sly look. 'Besides, it's not much fun dragging an unwilling partner onto the dance floor. I'm nice like that.'

Yusaku smirked. 'Not that nice. You still got me here-' his disapproving look swept round the room once more – 'anyway, didn't you?'

Ai laughed and wiggled his hand into the tight spot between one of Yusaku's crossed arms and his chest. After successfully looping his arm in and round Yusaku's own, he leant over and nestled into his partner's side affectionately.

'Sorry, sorry, my mistake! You're the nice one, after all, huh?'

The look he gave Yusaku was like a slice of light, lashes lowered to make him sultry and provocative; all deliberate, Yusaku knew. But he didn't shrug off him, despite the uncomfortable look a few people threw their way. There weren't a lot of them, not nearly enough to matter – most people were too focused on enjoying themselves, or else minding their own business.

Still, it was a reminder to be careful, and Yusaku stepped back from the brighter parts of the room and away, Ai trailing in his wake and muttering about how he was a nice 'Yusaku-chan-shaped pillow.'

'I'm surprised you haven't ordered a Playmaker themed one in that case,' Yusaku muttered, before adding a hasty, 'yes, I know they exist Ai, I'm not blind,' when Ai threw him a delighted look.

'You're warmer,' said Ai meaningfully, still tugging at his arm. 'Cuter too – even if you're not as mute as pillow would be. Huh. In that case maybe the pillow would be cuter after all?'

Yusaku was half-tempted to shake him off for that. But after a moment, he let it lie. Instead they wandered out into an outdoor patio in relative peace, miniature galaxies sprouting across the fake night sky instead of the usual pinpricks of light that would coat Den City's, either from skyscrapers or aeroplanes overhead.

'They've printed the Milky-Way six times out here,' Ai muttered sourly. 'Lazy, fickle SOLtech employees.'

Yusaku would take his word for it. Most of the galaxies, as they swirled above his head, looked the same to him, not even varying in their patterns. Ai however, with his non-human brain, would be able to pick out every tiny prick of light that formed their pixels, and compare and contrast them against each other.

'That's not like you,' he said steadily. 'Usually you'd be telling me how pretty it is.' Or else sporting some horribly cheesy line that was meant to be dripping with romance, he thought.

Ai grinned at him. 'Aww? Is Yusaku-chan jealous? But there's no need to be; for no man-made contraption could be half as pretty as you.'

Ah. There it was. Not that Yusaku minded.

'Kuri?'

Yusaku blinked, as a familiar black blob with yes, he had been right earlier, a candle tied to its head, bounced into view.

Ai let out a shriek – a little too close to Yusaku's ear for his taste – and promptly dropped his partner's arm.

'Ah! Linkuriboh! Come here, come here, right to Papa's arms!'

It was, thought Yusaku, a little like seeing those videos people took of reuniting with their long-lost pets. The Linkuriboh squealed, gave an overly large bounce that made the candle dribble and send out a spray of digitalised wax, and Yusaku found himself taking a tactful step back from all such future wax-spurts as the little monster went sailing into Ai's arms.

'Ahhhhh, did you miss, Papa? I sure missed you!'

Ai gave the creature a heartfelt squeeze, gathering it up close to his face so his hair dangled over his eyes like a dark blanket. Not quite close enough though, for Yusaku to miss the way Ai's lips moved, eyes glowing the way they always did when they were running a new calculation or transmitting data. He was about to ask, when there was a low growl from his feet.

'Guri...'

Yusaku stared down. Straight into the scowling face of Linguriboh.

'Guri,' it said again, menacingly, the purple candle stuck to its head wobbling dangerously as it took a very deliberate step forward. Wax spilt and it took a bold little hop forward when Yusaku pointedly moved his foot away. Its eyes narrowed even further.

'Guri,' it repeated more firmly, bending a little, as though it deliberately wanted to nudge Yusaku's ankle with the naked flame.

'Ah! No, I didn't program you to do that!'

Ai swept down and gathered the little troublemaker in his arms, affectionately resting it in the crook of his elbow, with Linkuriboh still balanced in the other. 'C'mon, it's me, your Papa! And you're obligated to like the same things I do!'

Linguriboh took one look at him, the beaming 'Papa' in question, and then stabbed Linkuriboh with the arrow at the end of its tail.

Ai blinked. 'Ah?' he asked in disbelief as Linkuriboh burst into a flood of tears. 'Ah! No! Bad monster! Didn't you ever learn how to play nice with others!'

'Considering the fact that you designed it to deliberately antagonise me and the others along with the rest of your Ignister deck, probably not,' Yusaku said blandly, ignoring the glare Ai gave him.

'Yusaku! Help me with these troublesome kids!'

Yusaku closed his eyes. 'I don't remember signing up for that. Or becoming a 'Papa,' he pointed out as he folded his arms and turned away, looking for the nearest dark...well, okay, less light-infused corner he could retreat into.

'I GIFTED ONE OF THEM TO YOU!' he heard Ai wail at his back as he walked away. 'YOU DEADBEAT! YOU CRUEL, CRUEL DEADBEAT!'

Yusaku didn't actually abandon Ai. He just...wanted answers. Answers to questions like 'why are two Cyberse monsters you created wandering around this place freely?' Questions he knew Ai wouldn't answer, not properly, not until he was backed into a corner. Whatever game this was, Yusaku didn't want to play. Not unless Ai needed him to.

So he watched. He watched as Linkuriboh buried itself into Ai's arms and drenched his shirt with his tears. He watched as Linguriboh hopped down and began tapping one tiny foot impatiently. He watched as, wearing a look of mild disgust, Ai patted the sobbing Kuriboh with a rather curt hand, distaste clearly written into the pout upon his face as he glared down at Linguriboh. Whose candle flame was now wavering a little too closing to the lining of Ai's cape.

Great. Dealing with Ai on a day-to-day basis was tiring enough. Dealing with him while he was on fire was bound to be even worse.

Luckily, Ai seemed to recognise the danger as he frowned, swept Linguriboh back into his arms, and started walking briskly.

Yusaku followed. At a reasonable distance.

To his surprise, Ai did not wink at anyone or twirl across the dance-floor. Instead he strode, business-like across the floor, under the shadows of various pillars until he came to one nestled into the corner. He inclined his head, breathed words to Linkuriboh, who looked up at him adoringly. Perhaps too adoringly as Linguriboh promptly stabbed its tail into Ai's ankle.

Yusaku winced in sympathy as Ai's face creased in pain.

'Why must you hurt me this way?' his partner murmured sorrowfully, as his hand brushed over the pillar.

'Guri,' said Linguriboh stoutly.

Ai's eyes narrowed. 'One day I'll deliver you a proper Japanese audio patch,' he threatened. 'Once I can probably understand what you're saying...well! I'll never find you cute again!'

A threat that didn't seem to deter Linguriboh in the slightest as it irritably stomped one surly little foot.

'Fine, fine, you're as bossy as Yusaku...'

Yusaku frowned as the vision of Ai and the Kuribohs hunched against the side of the pillar, wavered, and the next second, they were gone. And then he blinked as the pillar briefly rippled like a disturbed pond before smoothing itself over.

He was about to walk over when he noticed someone break off from one of the tables nearby to stalk after Ai. Even with her mask on, a simple curve of teal-green that splashed out around her eyes, complete with small white seashells stamped around the edges, Yusaku recognised the grim line of the mouth beneath; he had seen it in Duels, and sometimes, when she was slaving over a particularly hard problem in the Duel Club, on the face of Zaizen Aoi.

With barely a thought, he changed a few of the settings on his own avatar, and the next second, along with being quite a few centimetres taller, was walking over to her, the sweep of his new cape dappling his steps with shadows.

'Oi, Zaizen,' he called, wincing at the new voice that rolled out of his throat. 'What are you doing poking around a fancy place like this?'

She froze. Then levelled a hard glare at him. 'A copy?' she asked, the words falling like chips of ice and Yusaku winced internally at her tone. 'Or was it the one fiddling around with the portal to the Shareholders viewing platform that's the fake?' She crossed her arms. 'Well? Are you going to explain, Ai?'

Yusaku's mind was racing. It was like a cold, heavy stone dropped into his stomach; Ai probably had no real love for those people, not since they had benefitted so greatly from Earth's horrible death. And they might well be keen on bestowing the same fate on Ai if they realised he was alive. Well. If they managed to survive him, that is.

He fixed a smile on his face, trying to project as much mocking distain as possible. 'Now, now, enough of that; since you've managed to catch the eye of the most handsome person in the room' – he swept one of his arms out with an artistic flourish, then did it again with the other one for good measure, feeling like a complete idiot as he did so – 'why don't we go catch up over some of the ridiculous food here? No violence or I'm-such-a-bad-guy glares needed!' He tried to spin round to point at the food, had one of his feet land on the corner of the cape, overbalanced, wobbled and nearly fell to his knees. How Ai managed to manoeuvre in this getup was a complete and utter mystery.

Still. He had gotten his speech patterns down pat. At least there was one good thing to come out of Ai's chatterbox nature; it was awfully hard to forget how he spoke.

Aoi meanwhile, was staring at him, arms still crossed. 'Next you'll ask me to dance,' she said curtly. 'Though I won't say no to a rematch now that I know for a fact you're alive...'

Yusaku's mind buzzed. None of this was remotely close to what he wanted. And duelling her would waste time he could use in pursuing Ai.

With a sigh, he let the facade fall, the dark curls falling away and then springing out into familiar yellow and red spikes.

And Aoi's eyes, within the shape of her mask, widened. 'You! But-' she cut herself off looking torn. 'Why...' She shook. 'No, I shouldn't even need to ask. If I had a chance to get Aqua back, I would do it in a heartbeat; and I wouldn't go announcing it to the world either, not even to the other people who had Ignis partners.' Her fingers dug into her arms as though they were trying to draw blood. An impossibility here, but still. It had to hurt. 'It would hurt too much...' she muttered softly. She looked up. 'Just; tell me he's not trying to hurt anyone.'

Yusaku's heart hurt. He couldn't tell her that.

'No,' he said firmly. 'Because I won't let him. I didn't before, remember?'

Ai sighed. Held herself a little more firmly. Then nodded.

'Okay,' she breathed. 'I trust you; you got my brother back for me, after all. Even though you didn't have to.' She took a step back, still meeting his eyes. Then turned and walked away.

Yusaku watched her go. Then rather grimly, he walked over, hand reaching out to trace over the space Ai's palm had lingered moments before. It was a pain, but without a proper keyboard, he couldn't read data the way Ai could, couldn't see the way code was swimming beneath and inside each object in the virtual world, much less fiddle around with it with his bare hands.

It was at that precise moment as he was nursed buy his private musings, that the room blinked out of existence and the space around him suddenly became a lot darker. Surprised, Yusaku stepped back, eyes passing over the curved arches of steel-like gray overhead, that were arranged into the shape found commonly found hanging over Western church altars. Huh. Maybe Ai had wrecked the security protocols so thoroughly it would now let just about anyone step through.

Unfortunately there were multiple passages branching out of the room and no clear indicator which one Ai had travelled down. Still. Waiting around here wasn't going to solve anything...

Yusaku took a step at random, only to pause as a loud BOOM echoed throughout the hall.

'AIIIIIEEEE!'

Yusaku did not twitch as Ai came barrelling back into the hall, both Kuribohs cradled in his arms, but he did back up a step as light flashed directly behind him. It grew, revealing a duel monster which swept in behind his partner like a bird of prey. It looked like a white spell-caster of some kind, though the bat-like spread of its blue and slightly metallic-looking cape also gave it a devilish feel and it was also juggling a set of linked gold hoops. It held them briefly, before it abruptly thrust them out, the loops spinning out with such a savage thrust, that it had Yusaku leaping out towards a panicked-looking Ai and wresting him down to the floor.

It was a good job he had; the rings quickly passed overhead and tore into the arches, causing data to break apart and spill out into blue fragments.

'Yusaku!' Ai clutched at his arms, the Kuribohs taking the opportunity to quickly squirm out away from him and escape. 'You idiot, if those things touch you they'll rip you apart so viciously that your body in the real world won't be able to handle the feedback and go into shock!'

'I don't want to hear that from you!' Yusaku snapped, tugging him back up to his feet, only to let at a winded gasp as Ai dragged him to the side, away from the grasping fingers of the monster as it swooped in.

'Ah, wait, wait!' Ai fumbled, almost tripped over his feet, then stretched out his hands. 'Come here, my cute little spies! I need two tributes for a flashy time-waster!'

Linkuriboh and Linguriboh who had been cowering, immediately let out a series of chirps and burst into twin spots of blinding white light.

Ai grinned, and almost got skewered by the revolving golden rings that were now back in the Duel Monster's hands again, before Yusaku managed to drag him behind one of the arches. Without missing a beat, or cringing too much at Yuskau's glare, Ai confidently yanked out a card.

'Arise, my trusty stead! Show this magician who's boss!'

Light Dragon Ignistar immediately appeared, its golden coils sweeping through the hall in one long graceful curve before it dove towards the other monster, mouth stretched wide open. Yusaku could make out the glint of its teeth, and the flare of the red tongue inside before it was shattered into pieces by the rings the other monster held.

But Ai didn't seem worried. He clapped both his hands together, raising them high so he could rest the side of his face against them in a cutesy pose.

'Hmm, Number 104 was it? Masquerade Magician – Shining...huh, I guess your time to shine is over.'

He snapped his fingers. And then there were a set of appalled faces staring back at them. Six in total. Five were of men, one a woman. Some were fair amount older than Yusaku himself, grey woven through their hair, while others were younger, skin un-weathered by wrinkles. One of them even hid a pair of astonished eyes behind some glasses, which widened even more when Ai spoke.

'Enjoying the show, Shareholders? You were the ones, after all who have been oh so greedily sending out bounty hunters to scourge the net in search of these new monsters popping up all over the place, thanks to Link Vrains' expansion into other worlds.' He gestured to Masquerade which had abruptly come to a halt. In fact it was shuddering slightly, as though stuck in a time lag.

Ai's grin widened, and became practically feral. 'Oh, so sorry...I guess ripping open the channels of communication to you have disrupted the security measures you put in place. Poor old monster! Well, new monster.' He waved another hand, and then the monster disappeared, a new card forming in Ai's hand with its picture on it. Ai stared at it in satisfaction for a moment, before carelessly tossing it over his shoulder to Yusaku. 'I don't mind all this data mining you're doing; I just wanted one thing and then you can forget all about this pleasant little encounter...'

He grinned maliciously. 'All those reports on Go Onizuka and his attempted fusion with the remnants of the Earth Ignis...I want them deleted, shredded. Purged. And if not...I'll be paying you a much, much more personal visit.'

The screens zapped out. And Ai spun round, glee written across his face.

'Ah, how sweet of you to worry about me and follow me all the way to this cold and empty-'

Yusaku's hand clenched around his wrist hard.

'We're logging out,' he gritted out. 'Now.'

Ai took one look at his face. And visibly wilted.

Yusaku was furious. 'Are you trying to paint a target on our backs?' he demanded, tapping the green diamond on Ai's throat for emphasis.

Ai frowned and shoved him off.

'No! I'm not stupid, Yusaku! I fiddled with the feeds they were getting so we looked like we had totally different avatars and data streams behind them!' Then he brightened. 'Wanna see? I made you look surly and mean just like in real life~'

He brought up a screen on his tablet that looked rather suspiciously like he had replaced Yusaku's head with that of a frumpy bulldog, but Yusaku quickly shoved it away in a fit of temper.

'Not the point! I didn't resurrect you just for you to throw your life away on some cheap stunt and go threatening people again! Zaizen Aoi saw you! She knows you're alive! What if she tells her brother?'

Ai's face smoothed over quickly. It was almost frightening, really, the speed at which it did so. 'Yusaku,' he said more seriously. 'I can deal with that. If it's really necessary I can remove her memories of the night with just a touch of my fingers. It's similar to how Lightning rid Jin of his memories of the Lost incident.' He raised his hand, one single finger outstretched as though to prove a point and Yusaku stared at it, at that one single, unassuming digit, and felt ill.

'But I'm not Lightning.' Ai grimaced and lowered his hand, suddenly looking a lot more like the awkward person Yusaku knew he could be a decent chunk of the time. 'So I'll wait, first. I owe her and Aqua that much. Maybe I'll take up some of my old spying habits? Then if I see her lips get loose, I'll sew them shut.' He sighed.

'You know, I did really want to go with you somewhere fancy, like this event but...the opportunity was too good to pass up. I figured with all those other monsters there, no one would notice my ones scouting the place out, and they could locate access to the sector those beady-eyed old timers were keeping watch over.' He crossed his arms and turned away slightly. 'It's always bothered me that some of the data collected from Earth is still in the hands of SOLtech – some of it was buried in remote sectors overseas, too deeply for me to extract all of it out that time I was in charge of everything. I let Zaizen have access to what's left because as long as Aoi is in his life and he remembers the connection she has to both Aqua and her origin, I know he won't let himself be pushed to do anything terrible with it. In fact it might be safest with him, at the moment. But those shareholders...they only have access to the reports I mentioned, but I don't trust them with even that much!'

He grimaced. 'Still. Some of those new monsters were interesting. Too bad Topologina Nabee wasn't among them.'

Yusaku clenched his fists. He was still angry. Hurt, almost. And yet...he understood. And it wasn't as if Ai had forced him to follow him either. Even that messing around with the Kuribohs earlier...had that been part of a calculated ploy to annoy Yusaku, enough to get him to walk off? It was hard to tell.

Abruptly, his fists relaxed. It was difficult to keep up the anger. He knew Ai was like this. It was who he was. Who Yusaku had chosen to save, to be with.

Yusaku allowed himself a final mental sigh. And then extended his hand.

Ai stared at it as though there was some complex language he couldn't translate scrawled across the palm.

'One. Dance.' Yusaku spoke firmly. 'Then we come back here. Home. For good.'

Ai's eyes flickered, something running behind them. Then abruptly his face smoothed out again. But this time into a touched smile.

'Um...Playmaker-chan?'

Ai winced and Yusaku's foot landed a little too near his own.

'Ah...this is nice, I guess but we're turning a bit too fast and AH!'

Ai's cape got caught on the buckle of another man's coat and dragged, almost ripped, specks of data flaring along its ends in the place of loose threads.

'Sorry,' intoned Yusaku in a dull voice and Ai stared at him with widened eyes. As well he should.

'You sure don't sound it.'

'Maybe there's something wrong with the way you're processing audio here then.'

Ai pouted. He was taller and had wanted to lead, but after nearly bashing them into the side of a girl with a too-wide dress after a rather excessive twirl, Yusaku had swiftly rescued his waist from Ai's too eager grip and insisted he do so instead. The trouble was, Yusaku didn't really know how to dance anymore than Ai did.

Still, it was fun to see a little panic dart into Ai's expression every now and again.

'Ow! Playmaker! My foot, my foot! You cruel monster!'

'Had enough then?'

Ai glowered, then let his hand slide round Yusaku's shoulder a little more firmly. 'Huh? No chance! I'm not letting this rare opportunity pass me by. You promised me a dance.' Ai pouted. 'So you're going to keep it.'

Yusaku smiled. 'Alright.' He took them past a Fairy Cheer Girl monster and very pointedly forgot how to hear after Ai demanded that one of them dip the other just like how they did in the movies.

'So stingy,' Ai complained. But as the song came to an end, he still lifted Yusaku's hand to his lips and left a lingering kiss to dance there, leaving spots of heat to pulse against Yusaku's fingers long after his mouth had moved away. 'My first ball, my first real dance, and you're like this.'

'Find another partner, then,' Yusaku told him, not at all surprised when Ai melted a little and snuggled into him.

'You really think I want someone else to be m-AI-ne?'

Yusaku sighed at the badly twisted word. And at the devious smile on his partner's face. Because, yes. This was what he had chosen.

Well. They'd hopefully both have years left in order to learn how to deal with it.

Notes: I feel cheated, CHEATED I say that we never got to see Linkuriboh and Linguriboh interact in canon. Would have been a showdown for the ages.

And throwing Vector's old monster from ZEXAL in there, may have been a bit much, but with a name involving the word 'Masquerade' how can I resist? It goes with the theme so well! Like a brick wall against the head, maybe.

I couldn't quite squeeze in the personality switch thing. So you get Yusaku attemtping to act like Ai for one hot minuite and absolutely hating it.

Well, only one more fic to go in this Aiballing week. And there will be no dancing involved in it, this time, I promise.