warnings: profanity
4. Restless
Jack approached the door cautiously, wondering at the raucous pounding. He opened it slowly, drawing the pipe in his other hand back, ready to strike.
"Yusei? Kaz?" Astounded, he dropped the pipe. He was astonished to see someone he knew there, but Yusei and Kaz? Together? "Careful there!" he warned. "I could have beaned you!"
"Jack! Thank god!" exclaimed Kaz. "Where have you been?"
"Oh, I was jumped on my way to deal with this guy here," he pointed to the fellow on the floor, "and it took a little while for me to wake up and sort things out."
Yusei sighed. "You'd better watch it, Jack, or one of these days someone's going to find something that penetrates that thick skull of yours."
"Heh," he said dismissively. "They'll have to try a lot harder than this."
Kaz was calling in the incident. Finishing, he turned and said, "Take a seat. This will take a while."
"Yusei," Jack said, "you don't have to stick around for all this."
"What?" he laughed. "And miss what Kaz has to say to you? No way!"
Jack moaned and collapsed into a nearby chair.
As promised, taking care of Sato and his friend took a while, after which the three headed out for a late lunch.
Once a round of salad came out, Yusei gave Kaz a nudge and said, "So how about it? Are you going to chew him out or not?"
Jack groaned.
"It's not that bad," Kaz said, "but you really should be more careful. It's not just that taking the law into your own hands is against the law, but you're endangering innocent people—and yourself too! You could be badly hurt. Just this time, you were lucky. You got off with just a few bruises and scrapes."
"Not to mention the probable concussion," interjected Yusei companionably.
Jack looked a little frustrated at that and admitted, "They did get the jump on me, but they were expecting me this time."
"And how many times did you get beaten up with the D-wheel gang?" asked Kaz.
"Uh, maybe two or three, but one of the times was my idea."
"Yeah, and a brilliant idea that was, too," commented Yusei drily.
"It broke the case," Jack said, sullenly. "You thanked me for it back then."
"It's true." Kaz admitted. "Those were special circumstances."
"Special circumstances like screwing up Kaz' case," Yusei commented.
Kaz ignored him, continuing, "You really saved me then. With my cover blown, I thought the whole case had gone out the window. But, Jack, if you keep doing this sort of thing and get badly hurt someday, I don't—" He stopped suddenly.
"Don't what?"
"I don't want to see you hurt," Kaz said simply, leaving Jack wondering if that was what he was going to say in the first place.
Jack shrugged. "I don't think that's going to happen. I know my limits."
"And you're always testing them," Yusei pointed out.
"Yusei, I—" Jack began, but a ringtone sounded and Kaz pulled out his cell with murmured apologies.
"Hi," Kaz said. "Oh, Mikage? … Can I …? Oh, I see. Stephanie? Yes, I do. … I guess I could. … No, no, I'm just having a late lunch. Yusei and Jack are with me. …" He looked at Jack, who shook his head. "No, sorry, he took the opportunity to take a break just now, but I'll let him know. … Uh huh, that sounds good. Tomorrow night at seven. Thanks, Mikage." He put away his cell with a sigh. "Oh, yeah. Mikage says she's glad you're all right, Jack."
"Hunh."
"Stephanie? As in the waitress at the café across from Poppo Time?" asked Yusei.
Kaz sighed again. "Yes, Mikage decided she needed to set me up on a date for some reason."
"With Stephanie, huh?" said Yusei.
"Really," Jack said, regarding Kaz thoughtfully. The conversation drifted to dueling for the remainder of the lunch, but for some reason, Jack's thoughts kept circling back to that call. Why would Mikage set Kaz up on a date, and why with Stephanie? And why would Kaz accept? And why would any of this matter to him? It's not like it had anything to do with him.
Jack sat placidly at a table at the café across from Poppo Time sipping Blue Eyes Mountain, the sun hanging low in the sky behind him. Although it was still February, he could clearly feel the promise of approaching spring in the air, and his steaming cup of coffee warmed him pleasantly.
"Will there be anything else?"
Jack glanced at his waitress. Oh, yes, he thought. This is the one, right? What's her name? Stephanie. Her shift would end any minute and Kazama would appear to take her on their date.
"No … Thank you," he said. Stephanie stared at him for a second, then snapped out of it. Jack rarely said thank you. She scuttled off.
Jack looked after her. He was barely aware that she was one of his long-term fans and tended to look after him with that particular glassy-eyed stare that most of those girls had.
It couldn't be that, could it? he thought, annoyed with himself. Why should he care? In fact, if one of those girls stopped obsessing over him long enough to date some other man, wouldn't it be a relief? It couldn't possibly be that he had some interest in her, could it? He looked into his cup and frowned. Only if she slipped something in this, he thought, staring into his coffee before taking another slow sip.
His thoughts were interrupted when a small blue car pulled up and Kazama stepped out.
Oh, right, Jack thought. Of course he wouldn't ask her to climb on his D-wheel with him. He was annoyed with himself because wasn't that a little wave of relief he felt? He shook his head slightly, trying to rid himself of the ridiculous notion.
But there was still something about it that seemed wrong to Jack. Without his D-wheel, Kaz didn't seem quite himself. Nevertheless, Kaz stepped forward to greet Jack with the usual happy smile that never failed to lift his mood. "Hi, Jack! I didn't expect to see you here!"
"Why not? I'm staying with Yusei. For some reason, he's so attached to this place that he can't bear to part with it. Is that your car?"
"This? Oh, no. I borrowed it from a friend on the force."
"So what are your plans—or am I prying?"
"It's no secret, really. I'm just planning on dinner—you know, a get-to-know-you thing? Then I don't know. It depends on how things go and what comes up. A walk, or an arcade, or shopping, or … something."
Something? "Sounds fun."
Stephanie joined them then, changed into a cute dress with a puffy mini skirt. She glanced at Jack furtively, then just as quickly glanced at her shoes and blushed furiously before looking back at Kaz. "You look nice," commented Kaz.
"Thanks."
"Well, guess we should be going. See you later, Jack."
"See you."
As he watched them walk to the car, Jack couldn't help thinking that the two made an attractive couple. Suddenly, he felt a strong impulse to see how far he could throw the little table he was sitting at.
He watched the little blue car as it disappeared around the corner. Something about that whole situation bothered him, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"So," said Kaz, "Stephanie. How do you know Mikage?"
Stephanie blushed brightly and murmured, "We met each other, um, at the WRGP. Through Jack."
"Jack Atlas?" Kaz asked, realizing that he should have guessed.
"Yes, uh, we're both fans." She didn't really want to say how big a fan she was, but she did sort of want to bring up the subject of Jack, so it was just as well that Kaz asked that question. "Um, you know Jack, don't you? I mean, you were talking to him just now—"
"You know him as well, though, don't you?"
"Well, serving him coffee and knowing him—being his friend—are two different things," she said.
"I guess that's so," Kaz allowed.
"He looks so elegant sitting and sipping his coffee," Stephanie sighed.
"Sipping coffee," Kaz laughed. "Not dueling, or saving the world, no, sipping coffee!" He couldn't help thinking how much she'd rather be with Jack than him. Hell, he'd rather be with Jack himself. But how could her focus be him and coffee? he marveled. There was so much more to him. But she had one thing right. He had a certain bearing to him. No matter what he did, or even when he was sitting still, the way he carried himself commanded attention.
Stephanie frowned. "You're making fun of me. But that's when I see him." That's when I have him to myself, she thought fiercely.
"No, not at all. It's just—I don't know—unique?"
"But he doesn't talk to me a lot. I bet he does to you."
"I don't see him all that often, to be honest. We talk about dueling, or sports, or—" he paused, wondering what exactly they did talk about. "Oh, sometimes we talk about justice."
"Justice?"
Kaz smiled to himself. "Right and wrong. How to ensure that people have a fair shot. Jack especially cares about duelists. You know, that duels are fair and that people aren't allowed to prey upon duelists. I think it has to do with what he saw growing up in Satellite, but he never talks about it."
"Oh, I see."
"But you don't want to spend the evening talking about Jack, do you?" Kaz toyed with his pasta a bit, trying to think of a likely subject to change to. Talking about Jack just made him realize how much he wanted to spend time with him. For the first time since he left the hospital, his mind went back to his dream. Shit. He knew exactly why this conversation was so uncomfortable.
"I guess not," Stephanie said doubtfully.
The conversation sputtered as the two consumed their dinner. Is Jack all we have in common? Kaz wondered.
Back at Poppo Time, Jack was rummaging through Yusei's cabinets in the kitchenette. "Got any popcorn?" he asked.
"Um, I think I have some somewhere. Try the pantry cabinet," he said, glancing over the top of his book at Jack.
Jack located a bag and put it in the microwave. While it was popping, he walked over to the window and looked out. "Don't you ever wash these?" he asked.
"Says the guy who always supervised cleaning tasks when he lived here," Yusei said without looking up. "Yes, as a matter of fact, but I work long hours so I don't get to it as often as we used to. Overall, the place stays cleaner without you around, you know."
"Humph," Jack grunted, walking back to retrieve the bag. He walked over to the couch, noting that it was the same old, worn-out thing they'd used during the WRGP. Tossing himself onto it, he said, "Can't you afford a new couch on your grand new salary?" as he began flipping through TV channels, trying to find something to watch. Even the Dueling Channel didn't seem to have anything worth watching.
"That couch is perfectly comfortable. I don't throw out things that I love just because they're old. Even if they get in my way sometimes." He shot a meaningful smile in Jack's direction. "If you can't find anything, park it on the Science Channel."
"You're not watching."
"Neither are you, really."
"I would if I could find anything," he complained, stopping on the Science Channel and chomping on popcorn irritably.
Yusei put his book down. "What's gotten into you, anyway?" he asked. "Your mood was good up until yesterday and tonight it's really taken a nosedive."
"Tonight? What—" Jack stopped, thinking what had happened recently. Things had actually turned out all right with the card cheaters, and in the end Kaz would be fine. That would only make him happy, so it couldn't be that. They'd had a great lunch. Was he ticked that Yusei had the chance to pal around with Kaz for a while? Surely not. Kaz was Jack's friend, and would always put him first. He didn't really like the idea of Yusei talking to Kaz about him behind his back, but what could he do about it? He shrugged it off.
But Yusei said tonight. What about that? He'd seen Kaz leave on his date with Stephanie. But that shouldn't bother him. What was annoying about that? The very thought that he'd be annoyed by such a ridiculously insignificant thing made him want to hit something.
"Yeah, you seem mad about something. What is it? I didn't do anything that made you angry, did I?" Yusei looked thoughtful, then seemed to get an idea and said, "If this is about my coming to find you, it's only what a friend would do. Of course I know you can take care of yourself, but—"
"I don't care about that!" he snapped, then sighed, saying, "No, I mean, thanks for coming after me. I'm not angry about that at all. I'm glad you wanted to make sure I was OK even though I was just fine on my own. I'm used to you doing that now."
"Then would you mind telling me what's bothering you? You're driving me crazy with your restlessness. You can't sit down, and I'm trying to read this chapter. I've been on the same page for the past half hour."
"So stop reading."
Yusei laughed. "That would be your suggestion! Whatever. I'm a little surprised that you came back here on your break in the first place."
Jack snorted. "Why's that? There aren't that many places where there are people I know. Besides, aren't you the one who insists that I maintain bonds?"
"It's not that. I thought you'd want to go on a real vacation. The Riviera. Tahiti. The Great Wall. Or something extreme, like hiking across the Alps. Or dog sledding to the south pole."
"Hm, you have some great ideas. Maybe next time."
"Though I really am glad to see you."
"I couldn't tell, the way you bury your nose in that book of yours."
Yusei smiled and put the book down. "You do have a point. You know, if you could use company on a hike across the Alps, you could give me a call."
"Maybe," he said thoughtfully.
"Or do you have someone else you'd rather pal around with?"
"Huh? No."
"Because you get along with Kaz so well."
"Kaz? Yeah, I guess."
"I wonder how his date's going. Do you think they make a good couple? He and Stephanie?"
"Huhn? Those two? How the hell would I know?"
Yusei laughed. "Well, you actually know both of them."
"I hardly know Stephanie at all!" He didn't like where this conversation was going.
"Don't tell me you've sat there at the café all that time and you haven't gotten to know your waitress at all!"
"OK, I won't," he said, annoyed, although it was true. He had zero interest in getting to know that slip of a girl.
"But don't you think she's cute?" Yusei said.
"I've never thought about it," Jack admitted. Putting his mind on it, she was cute enough, but there didn't seem to be much to her. Why Mikage would set up Kazama with such a nothing was beyond him. He was obviously worthy of someone much better than she. He should have someone incredible, really. Someone like …
Suddenly, Jack stood up. "I think I'll get out of here and take a walk," he said. He took the empty popcorn bag and threw it in the kitchen trash, then put on his coat.
Yusei stifled a laugh. It was too predictable. "Good. If you don't burn off some of that energy, you'll be up until three."
"Uh huh."
But as Yusei watched him walk out the door, his mind took on a more solemn tone. He regretted teasing Jack so much. If he wasn't careful, Jack would catch on. But they were going to spend the day together tomorrow. He'd speak to Jack more seriously then.
Author's notes ...
This chapter started out kind of blah, but after multiple revisions I think I got it so it's kind of OK. I think. Please let me know. This story will probably have one more long chapter or two shorter ones, depending on whether there is a nice place to break or not. The end (as usual) has been a bitch to write (pardon my lingo!), but there you have it. It seems like all I've been writing for 5D's lately has been shorter, lighter things, but, honest, I have some longer, angstier/meatier things in the works and one of these days, one of them will even start coming out! ;) So if that is your cup of tea & you like my stuff, please be patient.
Thanks once again to my faithful reviewers for all their support! It really gives me a lot of incentive to do my best and post as quickly as I can. (And to improve this chapter, for example.) They even sometimes lead to happy distractions (and additional sources of inspiration) as they did this week.
Now to actual notes about this chapter:
those girls: I've noticed that Jack really doesn't seem that interested in his fangirls and ignores them for the most part. His stated reason in the anime is that he doesn't have time for distractions until he reaches his goals. Not your usual rock star ...
such a nothing (Stephanie): It sounds like I'm beating poor Stephanie up, doesn't it? I don't hate her, honest! Blame it on the POV! Kaz can't understand where she's coming from, and Jack doesn't really appreciate her, plus he hates that she's dating Kaz. ... Poor thing. ;)
Yusei's teasing of Jack: Do you think this is OOC? I couldn't think of any specific instance in the anime (although admittedly I didn't think very hard), but somehow it felt right. I think he'd intervene if he thought someone pushed too hard on Jack, though (Crow, say).
And now, a few words from chapter 5 ...
"Why do you think that is? Because you refuse to put any effort whatsoever when it comes to your friends or other people?" Yusei was beginning to feel irritated.
"Don't get mad, Yusei, that's not it at all. The thing is …" Jack sighed and began to pace a little, moving restlessly, aimlessly. "Damn it, Yusei, you need to feel needed, and you know it."
"You're saying you don't need me?" Now Yusei was angry. "You wouldn't have a single friend if it weren't for me!"
Jack and Yusei have a little disagreement ...