Odd
Disclaimer: I do not own YGO.
Friday
Duke smiled as he drove to Shizaa's place. He expected her to be rich, knowing what little he did about her family, but pulling onto an estate that looked to be about a quarter of the size as Kaiba's was not what he expected, nor did he expect to see her with her three brothers, father, and mother outside waiting for him. Nervous was an understatement.
"Hello, you must be Duke. I'm Shizaa's father, so glad we could meet." The man said smiling and outstretching his arm to Duke. Duke took his hand and shook it.
"Glad to meet you too sir." Duke said as confidently as he could.
"How late do you plan on keeping my daughter out?" the man asked.
"She'll be home by eleven at the latest sir." Duke said.
"Very good, you two have a lovely evening." He said.
"Dad, remember, you promised, as did my brothers." Shizaa cooed kindly as she walked over with Duke to his car.
"We know." The men all replied as her mother laughed.
"No worries dear, I'll keep them in line." Her mother giggled before Duke pulled out of their lot and drove to the street.
"My dad likes you." Shizaa said once they were on the street.
"Why do you say that?" Duke asked.
"He didn't say 'she'd better be home by…or I'll send her brothers to come and get her punk.' Generally, if he doesn't like someone, he makes sure they know it. He won't even shake your hand." Shizaa laughed.
"Well, it's a good thing I fall into your father's good graces." Duke chuckled, feeling a bit relieved now.
"Yeah, so, where are you taking me?" Shizaa asked smiling.
"I'll just give you a hint, it's not the average first date spot." Duke said.
"Hmm…a club…no, a rave…no, not that…" Shizaa continued to guess and only talk herself out of them.
"Shizaa, even if you did guess it would I honestly tell you?" Duke chuckled.
"Well, no." Shizaa said with a smile.
"You're such an oddball, but that's ok." Duke laughed as he turned onto the street that led them to the soccer field.
"We're going to a soccer game?" Shizaa asked quizzically.
"You ok with that?" Duke replied in the same manner.
"Yes! I love soccer!" Shizaa exclaimed as they pulled into the parking lot. Once they got out of the car they made their way through the crazy crowd to their seats, which were near the very front, after stopping at the concession stands for a snack.
"I still sometimes find it hard to believe that not too long ago Téa and Tajra were in the hospital, and shortly before that Tajra practically hated the male species. She seems happier with Marik." Shizaa said.
"It's because they have a lot in common." Duke said with a smile.
"No kidding." Shizaa chuckled just as the teams ran out onto the field, getting cheers from all around the stadium. Everyone took their seats as the game started up.
"Oh come on!" Shizaa and Duke shouted at a bad call the referee made. They continued this sort of banter until the game ended, the home team winning by just a few points.
"Man, can you believe that?" Shizaa said.
"I know, I think it was rigged." Duke said.
"Well, just goes to show them where cheating gets you because our team still won." Shizaa laughed as they managed to bob and weave through the crowded people. After thirty minutes, they finally made it outside of the building and bolted for the car, knowing they would have to wait another thirty or so minutes before they would be able to leave the parking lot.
"This is the only thing I do not like about sporting events." Shizaa said.
"No kidding, boring as all hell not to mention there are assholes everywhere." Duke laughed, making Shizaa giggle.
"I know right? Some people just feel that they are just so damn entitled." Shizaa laughed.
"Yeah, and they yell at everyone, sometimes they sound incredibly stupid." Duke said before a loud honk went off.
"And then there are the lovely honks from the cars. It's like the cars way of swearing." Shizaa said.
"And then the people swearing at you on top of that noise. Man, drivers can be so stupid." Duke laughed. They continued to taunt the idiot drivers from the safety of Duke's car, laughing and talking here and there until finally, about thirty minutes later, they were able to leave without a huge fuss.
"So it's only eight and we haven't had dinner yet." Duke said with a grin.
"I would love some dinner right now." Shizaa said, holding her stomach as it growled, and then blushing because of how loud it was while Duke smiled.
"I get the hint. What are you in the mood for?" Duke asked.
"Pizza sounds really good right now." Shizaa blushed as Duke chuckled.
"What the lady wants the lady gets." Duke laughed.
"Well, we didn't really dress all that formal, not even remotely I should say, so I just figured." Shizaa said in defense.
"You don't need to defend yourself; I would've been ok with whatever you chose." Duke said reassuringly. Shizaa smiled as she let out a content sigh, the lights of the city passing by them as they drove to the pizza place. They found the first available table they could and soon enough a waiter came over, gasped at seeing Duke, and then smiled.
"How may I serve you?" the woman asked them with a kind smile.
"Small or medium?" Duke asked Shizaa.
"Medium, I'm really hungry." Shizaa giggled.
"Supreme work for you?" Duke asked.
"I love supreme." Shizaa said with a smile.
"Anything to drink?" the waiter asked.
"Two cokes." Both Duke and Shizaa replied. The waitress nodded and went to put in the order.
"So what do your parents do again?" Duke asked.
"Insurance." Shizaa said, casually.
"On what?" Duke asked.
"Any kind you can think of, well, reasonable insurance, like car, home, boat, business, life, and etcetera, hardly anything crazy." Shizaa said.
"I take you have gotten some crazy wants." Duke chuckled.
"You have no idea how crazy some people are." Shizaa groaned.
"Is that a challenge?" Duke chuckled.
"Ok, valid point. But seriously, someone wanted insurance on their purse for crying out loud." Shizaa said.
"Ok, that is pretty stupid." Duke chuckled.
"Her reasoning was even more ridiculous. Something about it was the most expensive and genuine leather purse she had ever bought and she wanted some sort of coverage should anything happen to it. Needless to say, we turned her down." Shizaa said as their pizza and drinks were brought to them.
"Thanks." They both said to the waitress.
"So, how goes your business?" Shizaa asked before taking a bite of her pizza.
"Booming as usual. Sometimes it's hectic to get anything done with all the fans and paparazzi but otherwise, it's just another average day. I still feel like a jerk from back in the day when I was mad at Yugi. It was stupid." Duke said, bowing his head.
"Oh yeah, Joey and Téa told me about that." Shizaa giggled.
"And you still agreed to date me." Duke laughed.
"Because you're not the same vindictive person you were back then, you realized your mistake and apologized for it and befriended those who you once thought were your enemies." Shizaa said with a warm smile.
"Thanks." Duke said smiling back.
"No problem. So, what's it like working with Pegasus?" Shizaa asked.
"Pretty cool actually." Duke chuckled before taking another bite of pizza.
"What do you do?" Shizaa asked interested.
"Well, we discuss ways to keep the games interesting and new ways to play them. We've been working on a way to try to minimize hologram projectors so they can fit into the game boards and make the monsters small yet realistic versions of their actual sized counterparts. It's hard to do, but we believe it will be a great turn out as long as we charge a reasonable price for it." Duke said before taking a sip of his drink.
"Sounds like it are really complicated. I mean, Seto's duel disk revolutionized game play for Duel Monsters, now you're trying to do the same with a board game. It's odd that you're both in association of Pegasus with the gaming industry and technology." Shizaa said.
"Yeah, and it's not like he's a rival of mine like the Von Schroder family. Two different games, so not really much competition." Duke said.
"That has to make it easier on your friendship." Shizaa said.
"No kidding." Duke said before noticing the pizza and drinks were gone. Duke paid and soon they left the pizza parlor and went to the lookout cliff, getting out of the car and letting the gentle breeze hit their faces.
"What was your home life like Duke?" Shizaa asked.
"Honestly, I don't remember much of it. My dad was a business man and my mom left us because dad was way too into business to care about anything else, including me. I eventually left and made my own way in the world, eventually becoming one of the big names in the gaming industry. I haven't even talked to my own father in…shit, I can't even remember how long ago it was." Duke said.
"I'm sorry for asking. I shouldn't have brought that up." Shizaa said, ducking her head.
"No, you were curious, and it's not like there are many good memories to make the bad stand out, because there aren't really. So, what's your home life like?" Duke asked.
"A lot different. My father likes to spoil me to a point because I'm his only daughter, but I learned how to handle gun, knives, dagger, bows, and other weapons at a young age because of my father's lifestyle. My mom has been supportive of me being my own individual self as long as I'm being smart about it. And my brother's helped to make me the person I am by being tough on me to a point, lest they want to piss off dad." Shizaa said.
"Sounds kind of crazy." Duke chuckled.
"Yeah, sometimes I think I'm crazy just talking about it to people who I can trust." Shizaa laughed.
"I'm glad that you can trust me." Duke said, scooting closer to her. Shizaa smiled and rested her head on his shoulder before looking up at him. He took her hint and leaned in for a kiss. It was a tender sweet kiss, both of them were smiling through it as Shizaa wrapped her arms loosely around Duke's shoulders before they parted.
"I should be getting you home, I don't want to tick off your dad or brothers." Duke chuckled looking at his watch.
"Yeah, I like you alive." Shizaa teased as they got into his car and he drove her home. Duke felt like he was on cloud nine once he got back to his home, smiling like a fool but not caring about a damn thing. Tonight had been one of the best dates he had been on, and he planned on seeing Shizaa more often.
Them both being a little odd kinda made this a fun chapter. Hope you liked it.