Series: Beat of Wings||Title: Where I Tell You
Characters: Yuuri, Dennis||Ship: N/A
Chapters: 6-8||Words: 1,232||Total: 6,800
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Note: This is the AU where people have wings. Among them is Yuuri, who has demonic/dragon wings. This is how he & Dennis met one another in this world. This takes place about a year or so prior to the interdimensional war. Beware headcanons.
Summary: Certain events require help, like it or not. No one does everything alone. And so Yuuri searches for someone to scratch his wings and does something he didn't expect: makes a friend. Meanwhile, Dennis would just rather not be carded by the notorious sadist.[[MORE]]
Dennis didn't want to look too hard at Yuuri. Learning a new dueling style would be difficult enough, but the idea of entering another world to search out one person? That could take months. For all he knew, it could take years even.
But this was his part of the invasion, and one of the most important parts. From what had been explained to him, he would be near one of the potential locations to find the target, and the war couldn't or wouldn't be declared until he'd made the discovery.
You'd think I would be allowed to take the prisoner before the war starts, though. That sounded better to him. There were three other dimensions that would be invaded before this was over with and if he'd been in charge, he would have located the three girls – what did the Professor want with them anyway? - and taken them before starting the invasion.
But he wasn't in charge and no one had ever asked his opinion on what should happen in the war. So he would do what he'd been told to do and that was all there was to it.
Yuuri still hadn't said anything. The very tips of his wings twitched back and forth, and very little of his expression changed. Then he started to gather up the dishes and put them in the small sink on the other side of the room. Dennis followed him with his eyes, not at all sure if he should even say anything else.
If he'd even tried, Yuuri would have interrupted. Setting the dishes down, he turned back towards Dennis, his violet eyes flaring.
"So you're the one going undercover." Yuuri didn't smile very well. He sort of tried, and he could get his lips to move in the right motions, but there hadn't ever been anyone who'd ever seen Yuuri smile and wasn't convinced they should sprout their own wings and take to the skies.
Even Dennis, who knew Yuuri wasn't going to card him as long as he was useful in taking care of his wings, didn't quite feel comfortable with the way that Yuuri looked at him. But he steeled himself.
"That's right. They've managed to recruit someone from the XYZ dimension to come and teach me." Dennis picked at the napkin in front of him. "I think his name is Vector. I'm supposed to start learning tomorrow." What would be hardest would be to be able to do the summons without his stomach churning and nauseous. Just the idea of not using the Fusion deck that he'd put so much work into… using a deck from one of those other summoning methods…
Well, he would work his way through it. He just wasn't going to like it very much. Maybe he wouldn't have to duel a lot while he was in the XYZ dimension.
Am I going to have to learn how to Synchro, too? He wasn't even sure what summons method the Standard dimension used. His information only extended to XYZ for the moment. He presumed that he would get more intelligence when the time came.
Yuuri settled back in his chair, his wingtips still twitching, and a faint ghost of annoyance in the set of his shoulders and the way his lips curved.
"Learn fast," he said at last. "And make sure that you're here every night to take care of my wings."
Dennis stiffened up a little at that. "You don't need your wings taken care of every night." He'd done it at least every other night while trying to get Yuuri's scales no longer dry and itchy, but every night was a little different.
"I said you're going to be here every night to take care of my wings. For that matter, I want to see you dueling with an XYZ deck. To see how good you are." Yuuri's eyes never left him and for the briefest of moments, Dennis could have sworn that his eyes slitted, more like a cat's or a lizard's than anything else.
Or like a dragon… he'd only seen dragons in cards, but the way Yuuri stared at him brought to mind those few Fusion dragons that he'd seen before. Not just his eyes but the way his wings tilted and the way that his hands moved, grasping towards him without actually moving.
Dragons kept what was theirs. And while most people described Yuuri's wings as bat-like, the more that Dennis got to know him, the less he thought that was right. After all, his ace was Starve Venom Fusion Dragon.
Yuuri flew with the wings of a dragon and Dennis would not disagree that he had the soul of one.
Dennis traced a random design on the table before him, trying to wrap his head around Yuuri's orders. Yuuri very seldom actually ordered him to do anything that didn't involve his wings. Now wasn't the best of times to find out that Yuuri even wanted to.
"Why?" He asked at last, bringing his eyes up to look at Yuuri. "Why do you want to see me duel?"
Yuuri sniffed ever so slightly, as if the question was beneath him. "Because I do. I've seen you duel with your proper deck." One lip curled. "You're not bad with it. But you can duel better than that and I want to see that."
Dennis fidgeted, even less sure of Yuuri's words now. "You think I should be an XYZ duelist?" He'd never thought about that. He refused to think about it even now. He was a Fusion duelist. He was a Fusion soldier. Learning XYZ was just what he had to do to keep his cover.
"I think that you're going to improve as a duelist by turning their own tricks against them." Yuuri smiled and for a few moments, Dennis totally believed that he saw those teeth as sharp as any predator's.
He refused to drop his eyes, though. Yuuri wouldn't respect him if he showed the slightest hint of a lack of backbone and the longer that he spent time with Yuuri, the more he did want Yuuri to respect him. Yuuri hardly respected anyone short of the Professor anyway. Having that respect would put him head and shoulders above everyone else at Academia.
Yuuri watched him, that possessive gleam still strong in his eyes. Dennis wished that he could find the right words to vocalize any of his thoughts. He still hadn't quite decided what he wanted to talk to Yuuri about. Even knowing him for the time that he had didn't mean he could figure out just what to say to him.
Dennis wasn't certain how good of a spy he would be if he couldn't even bring up decent topics of conversation to someone who knew him. Though at least in XYZ he could make up things to chatter about if need be.
"I hope I do," Dennis said, as the stretch of silence became just a little uncomfortable. "So, you're going to be the one I bring the person the Professor wants to?"
Yuuri nodded, tilting back and spreading his wings for support. "He hasn't said why he wants them. Just that they're important to the plan."
"Then we'll get them." He'd never really worked often with Yuuri, except when it came to dealing with Yuuri's wings. But this didn't seem all that difficult.
To Be Continued
Notes: And the war is on the verge of beginning. Whenever Dennis finds Ruri, of course.