IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!! - This is the Yu-Gi-Oh! Yaoi portion of the Shipping List in order. Be forewarned. Some "pairings" will not be fluffy and cute. But they will all, hopefully, be believable. Rating's will vary.
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi
Author's Notes: Welcome to Friday! Yaaaay!! Ok, I'm good. I'm fine. Not crazy...
Rating: K+ (low)
Yu-Gi-Oh! Shipping List #15
--
Aromashipping (Ryouta x Hiroto x Katsuya) - "Home"
"I can't believe you won a spot on the judge's panel of a cooking contest." Honda said as he and Jounouchi strolled through the festival grounds housing Domino City's 17th annual cook-off.
"Yea," Jounouchi said excitedly, mouth already watering at the thought of all that food "they've got chili and fish and pie and chicken!" Honda rolled his eyes with a smile and continued to observe their surroundings with mild interest. "Hey, what time is it?" Jounouchi asked, grabbing Honda's arm to see the watch on his wrist. "Crap! I gotta go!" Honda watched the blonde rush off waving back at him as he went. "I'll meet ya at the hot dog stand after!"
"I'll be in the crowd stupid!" Honda yelled after him and Jounouchi turned back long enough to stick his tongue out. Honda shook his head and turned to find the competitor's booths…where the food was.
The turnout this year was impressive. They had booths for pies and chili, soup, chicken, seafood, rice deserts, and cakes. There was even a booth for underaged contestants, who competed in their own category. Honda was very impressed. He figured he'd better buy a cake for later or Jounouchi would never let him hear the end of it.
Strolling past the seafood section, one particular scent caught Honda's attention. Squid, if he could guess by the smell, seasoned uniquely with a sauce that drew him in its direction with curiosity.
Honda followed his nose to the booth and stared in awe at the spread of delicious-looking seafood laid out on the table; swordfish, squid, and eel, along with various sauces and spices and when Honda finally looked up and caught sight of the chef, well, he couldn't say it was difficult to acquaint those amazing dishes with their creator.
"Ryouta Kijiki?"
The man behind the table turned toward him and sure enough, it was the famous sea-deck duelist himself standing there in an apron and holding a wooden spoon.
"Hiroto Honda!" the duelist exclaimed. "How have you been lately? Where's Jounouchi at? I just figured he might show up here."
Honda laughed. "Believe it or not, Jou's a judge for this thing."
"Really? Well have I got a recipe for him! This squid here," and he indicated the dish in front of them "is about to win me first prize. I caught her myself this morning. She's guaranteed to make any who taste her never forget it." Ryouta laughed heartily and returned to stirring the contents of his pot, sitting on an outdoor burner.
Honda grinned back. "Well seeing as I still can't get the taste of that fish from Duelist Kingdom out of my mouth, I have no doubt."
Ryouta laughed again. "That was a long time ago, my friend. Here," the dark haired duelist scooped a ladle full of soup from his pot into a bowl and set it in front of Honda "have a taste of this. If that doesn't make you forget that old fish nothing will."
Honda took up a plastic spoon from a cup of them nearby and dipped it in the bowl, scooping out a spoonful of the thick, cream colored soup and tasted it. Honda almost didn't swallow. Ryouta was right, it was the best thing he had ever tasted. "That soup," he said, pointing to the bowl with his spoon "is amazing, Ryouta."
Ryouta beamed and returned to his pot. "Of course it is. So, how have you been lately? It's been months since I've run into any of you. Of course, I've been at sea, but what have you been doing?"
"Well," Honda answered between spoonfuls of soup "Jounouchi and I got an apartment. We're uh…together now…" Honda discretely raised his eyes to try and gauge the other's reaction but was unsuccessful so he continued. "Yugi's life has gotten hectic lately. It's kind of hard to explain if you don't see it with your own eyes. And Anzu's in New York at a dance school there. We get letters from her."
"That sounds…wonderful." Ryouta said, but he seemed just a little less enthusiastic about it than he had only a moment ago. Honda wondered if he didn't like the fact that he and Jounouchi were gay.
"So what have you been doing?"
Ryouta paused, stirring more slowly, mechanically, as though…maybe the soup didn't need to be stirred at all. "I've won a few competitions, for fishing and cooking, and I've got a new boat. I haven't been to land much lately…"
Honda cocked his head slightly to the side, regarding Ryouta a little more seriously. That was a tone Honda recognized well. Jounouchi always sounded that way when he had talked about his father or mother, sometimes Shizuka, before they had moved in together. "What's wrong. If you don't mind my asking?" he added quickly, not knowing if he was overstepping some sort of boundary here.
Ryouta looked up, surprised that he seemed to have picked up on it. "Nothing." he answered as though that really should have been the answer. "I'm living my dream. I love my life… But maybe sometimes I wonder what it might be like to have someplace on land to belong too, you know? There aren't many people living on the sea…who have nowhere else to go…"
"You know," Honda said, "if you ever want to stick around for a while, Jou and I would be happy to share our place. We've got an extra bedroom we don't use and you definitely can cook better than us…"
Ryouta smiled. "That's kind, but I don't want to intrude."
"Who's intruding?" Honda asked, becoming more sure of his offer with every passing second. "You'll be lucky if Katsuya doesn't drag you to bed after tasting that thing." he said, pointing to the squid.
Ryouta laughed. "I think of you as a packaged deal." Then he caught himself at the sound of his statement and rushed to add "Not that I would ever try to… What I mean to say is even if I've thought about…"
"Will all contestants please bring their dishes to be judged now. Thank you."
Ryouta looked back from the loud speaker to Honda's confused gaze and grimaced. "I'm sorry, forgive me, I've got to go now."
Ryouta took his squid and hurried off toward the judging area, leaving Honda behind still trying to find some way of not getting the idea that Ryouta might actually like a threesome with them out of all of his attempted statements.
Ryouta was right, his squid won the seafood portion of the contest by a landslide. It received all but one vote - Jounouchi's, who wasn't allowed to judge him based on the fact that they were friends. Jounouchi also did not get to try the squid which put him in a terrible mood for the rest of the contest.
Afterward, Honda told Jounouchi that they were taking Ryouta home with them and he happily latched himself onto the sea duelist for the entire trip home.
Jounouchi formerly declared over dinner - made by Ryouta - that he was dumping Honda for their new roommate. Ryouta smiled, glad the blonde liked his food. He always loved to see Jounouchi happy, he had so much energy it was contagious. And Honda rolled his eyes. The way to Jounouchi's heart was definitely through his stomach. He knew the blonde was only joking, but he spoke up anyway.
"Ryouta says that we are a packaged deal."
This made Ryouta blush, the color only deepening as he remembered all of the other things he had also said while he was trying not to say them.
Jounouchi looked at the dark-haired duelist, trying to determine if they were still joking or not. By the look on Ryouta's face, he guessed not.
"You never did finish telling me what you've thought of." Honda informed their guest smoothly and Jounouchi looked back and forth between them, trying to keep up with the conversation.
Ryouta looked more than a little embarrassed. "Well, what I meant to say was… I mean, I…guess I always thought the two of you were… you know… And I…well it get's lonely out at sea with nothing but fish and squids and I love the ocean and I've always wanted to be on it but…this is nice too. You have a nice warm home and you're happy in it. And it was how I always pictured the two of you. Sunny and energetic and solid and reliable, those are very honorable…"
Jounouchi laid his chin in his hand, leaning his elbow on the table and grinned a soft, lopsided smile. "You're not really very good at this are you?" he asked.
Ryouta didn't know what to say.
"Looking back, I guess it was easy for us." Honda said. "Jounouchi and I have been so close it's almost ridiculous so when we kind of just slid into this it didn't really change our relationship much."
"Just say ya like us." Jounouchi advised. "We like you too."
Ryouta's blush deepened. He looked rather cute when he was flustered. "I've never really…been in a relationship."
"Do ya wanna be?" Jounouchi asked seriously, removing his chin from his hand and straightening.
"Take some time and think about it." Honda offered. "There's no need to rush into things. Stay a while and see how it goes. We're not going anywhere, and when we get into things we're in them for the long haul."
Ryouta smiled to himself. "I think that's exactly what I've been missing in my life." He looked up, meeting first Jounouchi, then Honda's eyes and said "I would consider it an honor to call this place a home."
Ryouta had finally found the one thing he had been searching for; a place to return to. After all, a bird can only enjoy the freedom it feels in flight, if it has the chance to fly home.
Post whatevers: Aaand next up is Pegasus x Keith. I'm a water duelist myself and I really wish they had delt with Ryouta and water decks in general more in the show. Anywayz, please review if you liked. Ja!
