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 Note: I recently won the opportunity to make a request of a fellow author. I'm very excited about what sort of story will result and I also feel kind of stupid for not really being able to make the explanation of what I wanted sound intelligent. I kept retyping what I wanted to say over and over. ...I'm just in an insecure mood, I guess...

Rating: PG


Yu-Gi-Oh! Shipping List #18 - "Glad it Was You"

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Bananashipping (Hiroto x Malik)

It was eleven o'clock when Honda had left Yugi's, headed home on his motorcycle. It was a Friday night and Jounouchi was spending the night there but Honda had decided to go home since he volunteered at the youth center on Saturday mornings and he didn't have any clothes at Yugi's house. The streets were quieter at this time of night. Domino City sent the cops out at eleven to prevent loitering and discourage teenage gangs and prostitution in the worser parts of town. They sent a lot of them to Jounouchi's neighborhood.

There weren't many other vehicles out, so when Honda passed the motorcycle, leaned against a streetlamp on the side of the road, it caught his attention. It took him a second to recognize the boy sitting on the curb in front of it as he passed by, but when he realized that it was Malik Ishtar sitting there, he did a u-turn and went back.

Honda pulled up in front of the boy who looked up at him warily. His eyes were red and puffy like he'd been crying and he looked like he was about to take off should Honda move so much as a pinky in his direction.

Honda took off his helmet and asked "Bike trouble?"

Malik looked considerably relieved to have recognized him but it didn't seem to cheer him up any. "Out of gas." he said bitterly and Honda smiled.

"Well hop on, I'll give ya a lift to the station. You can buy a gas can and bring some back."

"Can't." Malik answered simply. "I just got mugged."

Honda stared back. He supposed that answered a few questions. "Not your day is it?"

Malik didn't answer, just stared at the ground dismally.

"Well, get on anyway. I don't have enough money for a gas can and gas too so we'll have to stop by my house for the can." Honda put his helmet back on and waited.

Malik looked up at him like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Finally he conceded. "Thanks." Malik grabbed his own helmet and got on behind Honda.

Honda did not ask him what had happened. He did not mention that he could tell Malik had been crying. Honda was the type who respected personal boundaries and didn't pry into anyone's personal business. Malik was grateful. It was embarrassing enough to know that without Marik and the power of the Sennin Rod he couldn't even defend himself from three late-night bullies.

Honda drove him to his house, got a gas can out of the garage, and took him to a gas station where he paid for two gallons of gas and then took him back to his bike.

Malik put the gas in slowly. He didn't really want Honda to leave. He didn't want to be alone. But he couldn't say that to Honda; to Yugi maybe, or Ryou, but not to someone like Honda. Malik chewed his lip, searching for something to say to the other. He wanted to say that nobody had ever done something nice like that for him before but that would sound like he was disregarding everything that Isis and Rishid had done for him, and Yugi's forgiveness. He wanted to say thank you but that just seemed too inadequate.

"I'm glad it was you." were the words that eventually came out of his mouth. "I know we don't really know each other that well, so…you didn't have to… Thank you."

"Well I couldn't just leave you sitting there." Honda said, smiling back.

Yes, Malik thought, he could have. Nine other vehicles had.

"If you come with me, I'll pay you back now. …And for the gas you used too." Malik added hastily.

"Don't worry about it." Honda waved it off. "It wasn't much."

That hadn't really been what Malik wanted.

"But I have to do something."

He didn't want Honda to leave.

Honda regarded him carefully, as though he were trying to get into Malik's head, trying to figure out what it was he was really saying. Malik drew his bottom lip between his teeth, averting his gaze from Honda's. Honda's eyes softened slightly as he finally understood. It didn't need to be said.

"You like Bruce Lee?" he asked and Malik looked back curiously. "There's a marathon on TV tonight, if you wanna stay up a while. It's still early. I've got a TV in my room if you wanna spend the night."

Malik tried to appear neutral but his eyes lit up as he answered. "Ok."

Malik had never spent the night at anyone else's house before. The thought made him feel just a little more normal. It was a happy feeling. They sat together on Honda's bed watching movies until Malik started to nod off and Honda helped him lay down. He ended up with his head in Honda's lap and Malik sighed contentedly as a hand settled on his hair.

Honda looked down at the sleeping teen in his lap and couldn't help feeling just a little like he'd brought home a stray kitten. Someday Malik might just say 'I don't want to go home tonight.' like Jounouchi did when he spent the night but somehow, Honda knew that this wasn't quite the same.

Honda reached forward, shutting off the TV and pulled a blanket over Malik to keep him warm. Malik may not have known it, but Honda was glad he had found Malik too.


Post whatevers: I suppose Malik must not have gotten stranded in one of those "worser" parts of town, otherwise, that bike wouldn't be there when he got back... Next up: Honda x Ryouta(Mako). As always, if you liked, please review. Ja!