Notes about this chapter: Miho moved away from Domino and to Osaka some months after Dry shouts ended due her father's job. Honda confessed his feelings to her before she left, but as we all know, she didn't respond them. Honda was pretty heartbroken about the whole thing for a while, but after Duelist Kingdom when Otogi arrived, he fell in love with him at first sight. Honda spent most of Battle City trying to get Otogi's attention, and eventually confessed to him after the tournament ended. This time, his feelings were responded, and the two of them are now in a relationship.
Charities: Otogi
That day had started like any other, when the couple of two guys had gone for a walk through the downtown together. During the Christmas season, the Domino Downtown was simply gorgeous. The whole city was covered in atmospheric and softly shining colourful lights and the window displays with the little elves and Santa Clauses were brilliant. Otogi Ryuuji had been feeling content all morning, his Hiroto's hand in his own – something very rare for him to do in public, as the brunette felt it was damaging to his manly pride – and walking in the brisk winter air that made his cheeks flush.
It hadn't been until they'd walked past a man in a Santa costume, who was ringing the bell in his hand and standing next to a pot, yelling "Help the poor!" to the air. Hiroto had stopped walking, let go of his hand and went to put some coins to the pot, earning a thank you from the Santa-man.
"Why are you wasting your money on something like that?" Ryuuji asked after the brunette came back to him.
Honda blinked slightly, looking a bit taken aback by the question. "Because it's a good and right thing to do?"
"Oh please, with the amount of money they manage to gather from that, they won't probably be able to feed even one poor African village's children this Christmas. And most likely they'll just take the money to themselves anyway." Otogi thought this would be the end of this conversation, and was about to take Hiroto's hand into his own once more, only to have that hand snitched away from his reach.
"How can you say such things?" Honda asked, sounding somewhat hurt and quite angry.
"What's the big deal anyway? I just don't do charities. They've never helped anyone in anything. Do they stop world hunger? No. Do they stop global warming? No-" Just then, his words were interrupted when he was slapped across his face. Hard.
"You idiot!" Honda yelled, seemingly not caring about the stares his loud voice made people give him. "Have you ever considered that although charities might not stop those things completely and permanently right now, they still might be the first step! And people do them out of the good sense of their hearts, not for their own advantage! You fucking insensitive idiot!"
"Why do you care so much anyway?!" Ryuuji began yelling back at his lover. Usually he didn't like raising his voice in public and especially not to Hiroto, but the brunette had damaged his face and that tended to get the best of the dice master.
"Damn jerk! My mother works at the charity ward, remember?!"
So that was it, Otogi thought at the back of his head. Honda felt he had insulted his family; something the brunette never tolerated under any circumstances. But angry as he still was, Otogi spoke before thinking: "Well good for all the poor people in the world then when the charity ward has a worker who would throw her son out of the house for days just because he dates another male!" Hiroto's parents didn't exactly approve of their son's relationship with Otogi, and the Honda family fought about it quite a bit, often resulting that Hiroto was thrown out of the house for a few days.
Honda looked extremely hurt now, and only that moment did Ryuuji realise what he'd said. He slammed his hand on his mouth, but it was already too late as Hiroto turned around and started to walk away. "Wait, Hiroto, I didn't mean it-" Otogi began, but it was too late already. The brunette was already running away, and Ryuuji knew he'd never catch him. Despite being really slim, the black-haired man wasn't very good at running, whereas Honda was known for his running records at the school races.
Ryuuji sighed, frowning. He might as well head home and take care of his cheek that would no doubt bruise. There was no point in continuing this walk alone.
-
Sometime later, Otogi sat on the couch of his apartment home, flipping through the television channels in boredom while holding an ice bag against his sore cheek. Hopefully that would decrease its upcoming swelling.
He finally sighed in defeat, closing off the TV. There was no point in watching anything, when there were too many thoughts running through his head for him to concentrate on that anyway. Instead, he turned to look at his photos that were standing on the wooden coffee table in front of him. There were three of them.
In the first one from right to the left were him and the rest of the gang, posing in front of the Domino High School. It had been taken about a month after Battle City. Yami had suggested in taking it, surprisingly. He'd said it was something all of them could take with them when they'd eventually have to separate to go to different colleges and stuff. Ryuuji guessed it was also because Yami had just realised how short the time Atemu would be staying in this era might be. The tanned man was in the picture as well, his arms around Yami and Yuugi's shoulders, who where also holding each other's hands. He himself stood at the right in the photo, Honda on his left. Jou was next to the brunette and next to him was Kaiba, who the blonde had had to promise the heavens and the Earth, so the tall man would allow himself to be put into the picture. Bakura was next to Kaiba, holding Ryou tight from around the waist and his hand. Next to Ryou was Anzu, who was next to the tri-colour haired trio. Malik wasn't included in the picture because it had been taken before the Ishtars had moved to Domino. But to Ryuuji, that wasn't such a big deal anyway. He didn't know the lavender-eyed young man that well, anyway.
Next to that group-picture was one of him and Hiroto, taken a couple of months back. His own arm was flung around the brunette's shoulders playfully – he had put it there just before the camera had taken the picture, so the other hadn't been able to stop him until it had been too late. Honda looked a bit taken aback by the gesture, looking stupidly adorable, but Ryuuji was careful about never telling him that so his lover wouldn't think he was insulting him.
Next to that one, was one including a slightly younger version of himself and a rather fat yet short man dressed in large-hemmed overalls with upright strips, shoes that's ends pointed upwards, puffy-and-long-sleeved shirt and a ruffled collar. The man's real face was hidden behind a clown mask. His father.
He was the biggest part of the reason Ryuuji didn't like charities. He had been adopted by his father at a very young age, but the only reason he'd adopted him was so that he, his adopted son, could take a revenge on the two men who he felt a big grudge towards to. Or rather, their offsprings. Yami and Yuugi.
He'd fought in a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters against Yami, while poor Yuugi had been tied up to a chair, having to only helplessly watch. Yami was meant to be his first victim, so he'd have the Millennium Puzzle for himself and gain its powers as the ultimate game master. Yuugi would've come next. But nothing of that had gone according to his father's plans. Yami had won against him, the one who had created the game, even with the Millennium Puzzle shattered by his father's hands. The place had been lit in a fire, but thankfully they had all managed to get out of there in time – despite the fact Yami had needed to stay back to complete the Millennium Puzzle once more, since it was attached from its chains on a table inside the building.
He had visited the two tri-colour haired boys in the hospital while they were there – Yami because of his burns and Yuugi because of the head-wound Ryuuji's father had given him to shut him up. He supposed it was due the fact he'd visited them that he'd become their friend. He'd apologised to both of them, and been very surprised when they'd merely smiled at him and shrugged it off like it had been nothing – even Yami.
But onwards to the point why he hated charities. It was that, somehow his father had gone absolutely mad about the fact he hadn't been able to get his revenge, and had been sent to a mental institution, leaving Otogi all alone. He had survived that time, yes, as Dungeon Dice Monsters had sold off well and he'd had more than enough money to take care of himself – but the point was that he had needed to do all that alone. No one had helped him in it, or at least no one from any charities ward. His friends had been very supportive and helpful though. But charities…they hadn't helped him back then, so why would they help anyone else?
-
A few more hours later, the black-haired man had simply become too palled with the silence and the boredom in his home, and had decided to take another walk after all – even if he had to do it alone. And so here he was, walking through the downtown again, observing the window displays and wishing that stupid argument in the morning had never happened. He and Hiroto shouldn't be fighting now – it was the Christmas season!
As if on the cue, something caught his eye nearby. A young brunette man dressed in a dark green thick coat, sitting on a bench with a full sports bag at his feet.
'Hiroto! What the hell is he doing here, sitting in the cold?' Ryuuji wondered in awe, but started approaching the brunette to found out about that.
Soon, he was in front of his lover, who looked up at him. Until now he'd been staring at his feet. "Oh, it's you."
"Hiroto, what are you doing out here in the cold? You're going to catch your death." Otogi spoke, ignoring the piercing tone in Honda's voice. He sat down next to the other on the bench and pulled an arm around him – and was thankful when the brunette didn't shake it off.
"…I got kicked out of the house."
"Another fight?" It wasn't really a question more than a statement. It was pretty easy to guess what the fight had been about, too. If Honda had still been looking upset when he'd returned home, there was no doubt that his parents would've tried to use that to their advantage and try to make their son break up with him.
"Yeah." Hiroto replied shortly.
"Why didn't you go to Jou's or something instead of just staying out here?" Ryuuji asked, wondering how long the brunette had really been here. And he felt guilty knowing it was because of him…if he hadn't lost his tempter like that…
Honda snorted. "The last time was intense enough for my tastes. You know Kaiba hates my guts. He's so damn possessive of Jou: he claims I tried to seduce him in our ancient pasts or something…"
Otogi found nothing to say to that. He was never quite sure how to take in the fact almost all the people he knew had a counterpart in Ancient Egypt and in Atemu's past. It made him feel a bit left out really, although most of his friends couldn't remember anything of those ancient pasts, and if they did, they were mostly just fragments.
They sat there in the silence for a while. But then Ryuuji stood up. "Come on, Hiroto. Let's get back to my place. You can stay there until you are allowed home again." He hoped Honda would understand this was his way of making a peace offering.
Hiroto smirked at him. "I thought you didn't do charities."
Otogi smirked back. "Well, you're an exception."
Honda finally really smiled, stood up, took his bag into one had and Ryuuji's own hand into the other. "I'm sorry I slapped you earlier." He said softly, and with that planted a small kiss on the dice master's bruising cheek – something he very rarely would do in public.
Ryuuji smiled back at him. "I'm sorry too, for saying such things. Now come on, let's go."
Honda allowed the dark-haired boy to lead him away. Everything was fine in Otogi Ryuuji's world again. And for the first time he realised that maybe if he'd asked for some help back that time, he might've got it. Keeping in mind that next time he'd ask before complaining, he tightened his grip around his lover's hand.
I really do like Chaseshipping ^^. It just…works. I hope I portrayed both of them in character enough.
Otogi's past is based on the manga, as I like that version better than the anime one – wanting to defeat Yuugi just because he defeated Pegasus just seems kind of pointless to me. Most of the anime's plot lines make less sense than the manga's, really. What kind of grudge Otogi's father held against Akunamkanon though, that one I'm keeping a secret XD.
I made Ryuuji to be adopted, because it seemed like he never had a mother and I don't really think that if his father aged 50 years in a single night (which I think would make him around 70-80 years old by then) he could to pick up girls well to bear his children XD.
Has anyone else of you noticed Yu-Gi-Oh! is filled with bad fathers?
Next is I want a transformer for Christmas.