"AHHHHH!"
"AHHHHH!"
Chazz and James screamed in unison, both of them having been startled by the other. After a few seconds of screaming, James glared fiercely at Chazz.
"You know, there's this new thing! It's called knocking!", James exclaimed with annoyance. Chazz blushed in embarrassment,and he felt his brain short circuit when he caught sight of James's bare breasts. James smirked when she saw this.
"Oh? Like what you see?", she asked. Chazz choked on his saliva and averted his eyes. He was about to leave before things got any more weird, only to stop when he remembered that this was his bathroom.
"What the hell are you doing in bathroom?!", Chazz yelled as he returned his gaze to James. James placed her hands on her hips and gave him an annoyed look.
"Taking a shower, what does it look like?", the black haired girl responded. Chazz glared at her.
"Well why aren't you taking a shower in your own bathroom?!", Chazz demanded to know. James went back to glaring at him.
"Because my bathroom's water pressure is shit and the communal baths are closed until next week! It was either break into your room or ask Bastion to use his shower, and I refuse to run all the way across the island to the Ra dorm and run all the way back here for the welcome dinner again! Ain't no way in hell!", James explained with frustration in her voice. Chazz's glare toned down a bit when he heard that.
"And you didn't just ask to use my shower why… ?", Chazz questioned, unable to stay mad at the girl he liked (especially when she looked rather amazing wearing nothing at all). James grinned at him.
"Because breaking and entering is fun! Also I couldn't find you and I have no idea how to send messages on that damn PDA.", James replied in a perky voice, as if she was talking about a fun day out and not committing a crime. Chazz sighed tiredly. Given that the first thing James ever said to him was 'hey kid, wanna buy some drugs?', the fact that she was more than willing to commit casual crimes wasn't all that surprising.
"Whatever. But next time you want to use my shower, just wait until you can find me and ask. I would have given you permission if you had done that. Also, please tell me you didn't break any of my locks. I don't want to have to explain to Crowler why he needs to send maintenance up here on the first day to fix locks that were working perfectly fine this morning.", Chazz pleaded. James scoffed at his words.
"Of course I didn't! What do you take me for, an amateur? I picked the lock to your front door using a bobby pin, a gum wrapper and the power of screwing the rules. It left no traces. And besides, if I had broken your lock, wouldn't you have noticed when you came up here?", James asked him with a raised eyebrow. Chazz nodded in acknowledgement of her points.
"Yeah, that's fair.", he admitted. James sighed at his words, as if she was frustrated he hadn't admitted that sooner.
"Thank you! Now, are you going to get out so I can finish taking my shower, or are you going to stay for the show?", James purred teasingly, and Chazz turned bright red yet again as he remembered oh shit, James was naked. Chazz sprinted out of the bathroom as fast as he could, and James laughed at his shyness. She hadn't minded that he had been blatantly staring at her boobs; in fact, she found it flattering.
'Now, to finally bite the bullet and ask pretty boy out on a date… ', James thought as she resumed washing her hair. She chuckled to herself. Knowing Chazz, he would make something as simple as asking a person if they wanted to hang out non-platonically way more interesting to do than it normally was. James found herself looking forward to the challenge.
—-
James strutted out of Chazz's bathroom in her custom uniform, feeling clean and smelling like whatever Gucci rip-off bodywash the rich boy kept in his shower. Chazz, who was already ready for the dinner after choosing to forgo his shower, sat on the bed waiting for James. Chazz raised a confused eyebrow at James's attire.
"What the hell are you wearing?", he asked, because that did not look like the Obelisk blue uniform, or any Duel Academy uniform for that matter. James gestured to her outfit proudly.
"It's my custom uniform. I got permission from the Kaiba man himself to wear it because I didn't vibe with the mini-skirts or trench coats.", James explained. Chazz looked her clothes up and down scrutinizingly.
" ...You look like a color wheel chewed you up and spit you out.", he joked, falling back on his usual reply repertoire of snarky insults because he couldn't come up with anything else to say. James scoffed at him.
"You just don't know true fashion.", James responded teasingly. Chazz chuckled and stood up.
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say. So are we going to dinner or not?", the black haired young man questioned. James grinned and dropped her false pretense of offense.
"Oh, we are. I would never pass up a chance for free food!", James answered in ernest, and Chazz laughed.
The two of them then left Chazz's room together, careful to stay out of sight of any people in the halls. Girls weren't supposed to be in the boy's dormitory, after all. Every time they had to duck behind a corner or hide behind a potted plant, James would have to cover her mouth to suppress snickers. When Chazz asked why she was doing that after the seventh time, James had grinned at him and gave him an honest answer.
"Because it feels like we're in a bad spy movie every time we have to duck and cover! I'm the main character spy, and you're the hot rival spy love interest!", James whispered to him so they wouldn't be noticed, and Chazz had turned bright red when he heard this. James had called him a 'love interest'. Did that mean she liked him or was she just messing around? Chazz was never able to get an answer to his question, because James soon told him the coast was clear and they both had to keep running to the party venue.
Once the pair reached the fancy reception hall where the welcome dinner was being held, Chazz took a deep breath and made the impulsive decision of looping his arm with James's. James, much to his shock and utter joy, did not protest this. Instead, she started frowning at the reception hall filled with Obelisk blue's and high ranking members of school staff, who were all chatting each other up with various topics of conversation. She was frowning because she couldn't see Zane, who she had yet to meet and wanted to at least talk to before the night was over. Chazz noticed this and looked at James in worry.
"What's wrong? You don't like it? We can leave if you don't.", Chazz offered. The party was okay, but it wasn't great. The horderves seemed mediocre from what little Chazz could see of the snack table, and the company likely was tolerable at best solely because they were blues and not Slifer slackers. It wasn't the best, and James deserved the best. Chazz wouldn't blame James if she was disappointed and wanted to bail, and if she was, he knew he would follow. James shook her head at his questioning.
"No, it's fine. I just don't see who I was-ooh, booze!", James started to answer, only for her face to light up when she saw a man in a white tuxedo carrying around a tray full of champagne flutes, likely exclusively for the staff members and older students. James ran over to the man, taking Chazz's hand and dragging him behind her. Chazz blushed at the sudden contact. James smiled innocently at the waiter carrying the alcohol once she came to a stop in front of him.
"Excuse me sir, could we please have two champagne flutes?", James asked as sweetly as she possibly could. The waiter gave her a dry look.
"Nice try, kid. You're not the first one to try and sneak a drink. You gotta be twenty-one or older and you have to- ", the waiter started to drone on, clearly already tired of teenagers trying to sneak alcohol despite it not even being halfway into the night. But then Chazz pulled out his wallet and held out a few bills to the waiter.
"The lady said she wants two champagne flutes.", Chazz told the man sternly. He was not about to deny the girl he liked what she wanted for any reason. The waiter stared at the money with wide eyes, quickly snatched it up, and shoved the entire tray of champagne flutes into the startled Chazz's arms.
"In that case, here. Take the whole damn tray. Have a nice night, rich boy!", the waiter told them, before gleefully stuffing the money into his pocket and walking away to get another tray. Chazz blinked in bewilderment at the unexpected action, but James grinned with joy.
"Alright, score!", the golden eyed girl cheered as she snatched up a champagne flute off the tray. James swirled the contents of the flute around idly and raised an eyebrow at Chazz.
"Are you always in the habit of bribing waiters for alcohol at parties?", James asked, wondering if she wasn't the only one on the island with a drinking problem. Chazz smirked at her and leaned close to her face.
"Only when it's to make pretty ladies such as yourself happy~.", he purred, trying to sound smooth. It worked, because James blushed and chuckled nervously.
'Fuck, I'm down bad for this guy. I hope he doesn't count this as a date so I can take him out on a really nice first date later on. The Chazz only deserves the best.', James thought resolutely, before picking another champagne flute off the tray and handing it to Chazz.
"Well, there's only one thing left to do.", James said ominously, a mischievous smirk on her face. Chazz glanced at the alcohol in his hand and raised an eyebrow at the girl.
"And what is that?", he inquired. James's smirk widened.
"Get absolutely smashed.", she responded, before throwing back her champagne like it was a shot of tequila and downing it in one gulp. Chazz, not having any experience with drinking alcohol because his brothers said it 'reflected poorly on the Princeton name', gave James a nervous glance before copying her actions so he wouldn't look weird. After gulping down his champagne, Chazz brought the glass away from his lips and made a face at the odd taste of the drink. James noticed this and chuckled at his reaction.
"You get used to it.", she assured the boy.
—-
Over the next several hours, James and Chazz did exactly what the former vowed they would do; they got absolutely fucking wasted. Over the course of only an hour, they chugged down all the champagne on the tray, barely taking the time to taste the expensive drinking. Chazz got drunk after only a few glasses because he had never drank before, but it took half the tray and then an entire other tray that Chazz bribed another waiter for to get James drunk. By the time the welcome dinner was actually served, James and Chazz had to hide the fact that they were drunk off their asses from everyone at the dinner. They somehow managed to keep silent for most of it, but both James and Chazz were rather giggly drunks and had a tendency to exchange hushed jokes between themselves at the dinner table, much to everyone else's confusion.
Once the dinner was over, the party went on in the reception hall. James and Chazz were being the total children they were and hiding out under one of the horderves tables, trying to sober up with glasses of the sparkling apple juice the minors were supposed to be served and stolen plates of shrimp cocktail. Even though they were both considerably more in control of themselves than they were at dinner, the pair of troublemakers were still laughing it up about anything they could think of.
"And then he asks 'WHY ARE YOU BUYING CLOTHES AT THE SOUP STORE?!', and he says 'FUCK YOU!'", James whisper-yelled to Chazz, recounting the glorious events of Code Geass abridged to the boy. Chazz was wheezing with laughter.
"Oh-oh god-that's- !", Chazz exclaimed through cackles, not making any attempt to keep quiet so they wouldn't get caught. He was too drunk to care. James laughed as well.
"I know, I know! It's hilarious, but you've gotta be quieter!", James said in a much quieter voice, sober enough to care about getting caught by an irate Crowler. But Chazz couldn't stop laughing, and James, in an attempt to shut him up, covered his mouth with her hands. This surprised Chazz, and the look on the young man's face made James laugh. Chazz stared at James with adoring eyes and gently took her hands off his face. James didn't notice his gaze and kept on laughing.
"Okay, I think it's time we- ", James started to say, but she was cut off when she finally looked at Chazz and saw the look in his eyes. Her smile fell slightly and she froze in place as the black haired boy leaned closer and closer to her. It wasn't until his lips were centimeters away from her own that James pulled away slightly. Chazz gave her a disappointed look.
"What's wrong?", he asked. He knew he wanted to do a romantic confession that James would remember for the rest of her life, but right now he was too drunk to care about all the pomp and circumstance he would usually want around for a love confession. In his opinion, right now was perfect. James was laughing, he was laughing, and they were both happy. The atmosphere was filled with elation and comfort. He knew he would feel embarrassed about it when he was sober, but right now he felt the best way to show how he felt was to do what he had been dreaming about for the better part of a day and kiss the girl. James sighed at his words.
"Chazz, you're drunk.", she reminded the boy. She knew what he was trying to do, and normally she would be all for it, but she didn't want to take advantage of him by kissing him when he wasn't fully in control of himself. Chazz gave her a confused look.
"So? You are too.", Chazz questioned, wondering what the big deal was. James shook her head and sighed again, this time much more heavily.
"Not as drunk as you. I'm sober enough to know that we should wait to do this when we're both in control of ourselves.", James told him sternly, deciding to be the responsible one. Chazz gave her a sad look.
"But if I don't do this drunk, I know I won't ever be brave enough to do it sober. I know you like me, you've been obvious enough about it with all of the flirting. I like you too. You're pretty and funny and smart and cool and good at dueling and you smell nice… ", Chazz trailed off dreamily, listing all of the things he loved about James as he buried his face in her neck to take in her nice smell that he loved so much. He was normally never so bold with physical contact, but alcohol and his affection for James override his usual reservedness. James blushed and chuckled at his unexpected actions, but didn't go to push him away.
"Chazz, I smell like champagne and your body wash.", she told the boy. Chazz nuzzled his face further into James's shoulder.
"I know. That's why I like it.", he responded. He then started gently kissing up from her shoulder to her neck, and James gasped quietly at the pleasant sensation.
"Chazz… ", James moaned, her face burning red with passion. She needed to stop him. Things were getting way out of hand. What had happened to talking to him and asking him out on a date like a normal person? Chazz kept kissing up her neck, leaving a few hickies until he reached the shell of her ear.
"My asshole brothers can go fuck themselves. Say you'll be my girlfriend, please. Say you'll let me kiss you.", Chazz begged as he nibbled on her ear gently. James's breath hitched. She felt torn. She wanted to kiss Chazz, but… but… oh fuck it. She had run out of reasons to refuse him.
"I… yes.", James agreed, knowing that despite all her previous protests, she wanted this as much as Chazz did. Chazz inhaled sharply.
"Thank you.", he said sincerely, and then he finally wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the lips. It started out sweet and gentle at first, but then it quickly turned more intense. James gasped as Chazz bit her lip and gently inserted his tongue into her mouth, being careful not to do anything she might not like. James let this happen and moaned into the kiss, grabbing onto Chazz's hair and carding her fingers through it. As she did this, she realized something.
'Wait a second… I don't feel any hair gel or hairspray. Is this porcupine-lookin' ass haircut really all natural?', James thought in shock. She had loved Chazz since childhood, but even as a kid she had never hesitated to make fun of his wack-ass hairdo that made him look like more of a main character than Jaden. James couldn't help herself. She started laughing at the fact that Chazz's outrageous hairstyle was natural and not something he did on purpose, and Chazz pulled away from her in confusion.
"What? Did I do something wrong?", he asked, worried he had screwed up his first kiss somehow. James shook her head and kept on laughing.
"No, I just-your hair! I ran my fingers through your hair and I realized you don't have any hair products in it! You mean to tell me those spikes just happen on their own?!", James questioned. Chazz blinked at her, and then he started chuckling himself.
"Yes. My hair's done this ever since I was a kid. It's actually always annoyed me. I've been trying to get rid of the spikes for years. I've tried everything from flat ironing to straighteners, nothing's worked. The only reason I wasn't bullied because of my hair in school was because of who my family is and because it kind of looks like the King of Games's hair.", Chazz informed her, recalling his stressful journey to make his hair look normal. James laughed even harder when she heard that.
"Nooo, don't think that way! I love your hair!... even if it does look ridiculous.", James pleaded jokingly, muttering the last part of her words. Chazz laughed.
"Yeah, it does look ridiculous, but it annoys my brothers so I don't think I'll be getting rid of it anytime soon.", Chazz responded, before tightening his hold around James's waist and pulling her closer to his side. James chuckled at his actions.
"So does this mean we're dating? You really like me?", Chazz asked out of the blue, whispering his words into James's ear with nervousness saturated in his voice. James laughed when she heard this, making Chazz worry for a moment.
"Yes, Chazz. This means we're dating. In case you've forgotten, I already agreed to be your girlfriend when you asked to kiss me earlier. Also, if I didn't like you, don't you think I would have broken your nose when I caught you gawking at my tits earlier?", James questioned teasingly with a raised eyebrow, and Chazz turned bright red as he recalled the incident in his bathroom.
"O-Oh. Right.", Chazz stammered, and James chuckled again.
"When am I not, baby?", she said, kissing his nose before burying her face into Chazz's chest. He felt nice and smelled exactly like she did; champagne and rich people body wash. James sighed in contentment. This was nice.
The new couple laid together under the table for a few moments, simply basking in each other's presence. James knocked back a few more champagne flutes to get a buzz going again when she realized she was getting too sober for her liking, but Chazz refrained from drinking anymore due to being too much of a lightweight to handle anymore liquor without puking it back up. What felt like an hour passed. It was well into the night, but the party was still going strong. James was about to say they should leave so they could get some sleep and not be total zombies in class tomorrow, when an unexpected guest joined them under the table.
In a flurry of movement, Zane Truesdale, looking positively miffed by something or someone, ducked under the table James and Chazz happened to be hiding under for some quick cover. Zane didn't notice he had company until James cleared her throat to get his attention. Zane's face turned from intense annoyance to shock and embarrassment as he turned his sights to James and Chazz, who were laying on the floor, curled up against one another intimately with dozens of empty trays, champagne flutes and shrimp cocktail bowls surrounding them. Chazz was looking at him with wide eyes and mussed up hair, appearing to have been involved in some very illicit activities earlier. James wasn't much better either, with similarly mussed up hair and several hickies littering her neck. James didn't look at all startled, however. Instead, she gave him a calm look and raised her champagne glass to him.
"Welcome. Fancy some child neglecting juice?", she asked him casually. Zane couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.
—-
Zane Truesdale was really fucking annoyed. As the best duelist in the school, the infamous Kaiser, people tended to flock to him despite his cold nature. This never really bothered Zane that much, but now it was starting to get on his nerves.
Zane's yearmates wouldn't shut up about how James McKenna had 'gotten the luckiest draw of all time' when she played Slifer and that she was nothing but a 'nobody amateur' now that she had given the card back to Yugi Moto after acquiring it through some undisclosed mix up. Zane had had to physically refrain himself from throttling everyone involved in that particular conversation when he heard the insults. James wasn't some nobody amateur; in fact, from what little Zane had seen of her skills during her duel with Crowler, she was better than more than half of his peers in Obelisk, especially the ones pointlessly trash talking her.
During her exam duel, James had all her monsters lined up perfectly and ready to attack before summoning her God Card. She would have won the duel with or without Slifer. She had just summoned him to fuck with Crowler and possibly the audience, and while Zane normally didn't commend people altering their dueling strategies solely to make a duel look cooler, he would admit that Crowler's reaction to Slifer the Sky Dragon appearing on the field was hilarious… and probably Zane's own reaction as well, but he was too embarassed about being just as shocked as everyone else to admit it to himself.
The bottom line was that James was a good duelist, possibly great, and listening to people insult good duelists out of nothing but spite and envy really pissed Zane off. Though, his anger was made even more intense by the fact that his peers were insulting James specifically, and Zane didn't fully understand why that was. Was it because she was interesting? Was it because she was a potential rival for him? Was it because she had skills he hadn't seen since Atticus? Zane kept asking himself questions, but he never seemed to find any answers to his 'why'.
And unfortunately for him, Zane didn't have any more time to figure his 'why' out for himself, because he spotted Crowler coming towards him with a look that said 'I'm about to sing you needless praises and annoy the shit out of you for the rest of the night'. Zane took one look at the creepy grin on the teacher's face and took that as his cue to leave. Immediately.
Zane speed-walked throughout the reception hall, trying to lose Crowler in the crowd of blue trench coats, but it was like the blonde man had a sixth-sense for sniffing out his favorite victims/students. Wherever Zane went, Crowler wasn't far behind. Zane cursed when he glanced behind his shoulder and saw he wasn't any closer to losing Crowler than he was at the start of his escape attempt. Crowler kept walking closer to him. The dark blue haired boy started looking around frantically for any opportunity for escape. He tried to spot Alexis so he would have the 'sorry I'm talking to someone else right now' excuse, but Alexis was across the room getting harassed by the other first year girls, and Zane wasn't about to put himself in the line of fire of squealing teenage girls to get away from Crowler. If he had to pick between squealing fangirls or Crowler, Zane would pick Crowler, AKA the lesser of the two evils.
Zane's gaze soon drifted over to an unoccupied horderves table in a rather unoccupied portion of the room. And, thinking fast, Zane did something admittedly rather juvenile. He ducked down and crawled underneath the table before Crowler caught sight of him again. Once he was out of sight, Zane sighed a huge sigh of relief. Finally, he could relax-
Then someone cleared their throat. Zane looked in the direction of the cough, startled by the sudden sound. He was greeted by the sight of the infamous girl he had been fiercely defending in that enraging conversation, James McKenna, and another Obelisk blue first year named Chazz Princeton who Zane only knew anything about because Alexis complained about him being annoying and arrogant during the exam. They both looked like they had been caught up in rather… intimate activities before Zane arrived. This annoyed Zane for some reason. Chazz looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but James looked like a picture of calm. She didn't seem to care that the first impression she had given him was 'caught in a hookup', or that she was meeting the most infamous duelist in school under a table. Instead, she raised the champagne flute that she should most definitely not have towards him and said;
"Welcome. Fancy some child neglecting juice?", in the most serene voice she could muster. Zane started laughing loudly.
"Yes please. I'm not nearly sober enough to deal with all the nonsense that has been thrown at me tonight.", Zane said in an uncharacteristic show of lightheartedness as he accepted the drink and started sipping it. He wasn't one for drinking; that had been more Atticus's thing, right alongside wild parties and other typical teenage activities, but Zane did partake in his vices every now and again. He hadn't bothered to sneak a glass earlier that night, but now he was in no mood to refuse a drink in any form. James raised a curious eyebrow at him.
"What kind of nonsense?", James asked. Zane snorted and took another sip of his champagne. He wasn't bothered by the fact that neither he nor James had bothered to introduce themselves. They each knew who the other was via word of mouth. Introductions would be a waste of breath. Zane removed his lips from the glass and inhaled sharply. He had been right, he really had needed a drink. Zane gave James a purposeful look.
"Crowler nonsense, among other things.", Zane said curtly, not really in the mood to explain the evils of fangirls (how Atticus put up with them, let alone liked them was beyond him). James winced sympathetically.
"Oof. That's rough, buddy.", James said. Zane nodded tightly.
"Yeah.", the third year agreed, before knocking back the rest of his drink. Zane felt the warmth of the alcohol fill him, giving him a slight buzz. He looked at James inquiringly.
"Do you have any more of these?", he asked. James nodded.
"Just a few. You can have them, you clearly need them more than we do. And we probably need to stop drinking and head to bed anyways. Mr. Lightweight over here drank too much and needs to sleep it off.", James said, looking at Chazz teasingly. Chazz made a whining sound.
"No I didn't!", Chazz protested, sounding very drunk. James laughed at his slurred speech.
"See what I mean?", James said, pointing at the pouting Chazz with her thumb. Zane smiled softly at the amusing scene and nodded. Then a look that screamed 'I have an idea' came across James's face. James gave Zane an oddly serious look, and his smile fell.
"Look, I know this is gonna sound weird but… do you wanna come back to Chazz's dorm room with us and play ultimate twister for a little while to help burn off the alcohol?", James asked out-of-the-blue.
Zane blinked at the bizarre request. He had never heard of ultimate twister before. He analyzed the couple's mussed up state again. Was 'ultimate twister' a euphemism for a threesome? Was he being propositioned? Uh-uh. No way. Zane didn't fly like that. The Kaiser couldn't be bought. If he could, he would have slept with half the student body by now would have fulfilled his fangirl's wildest dreams.
But then Zane realized that Chazz probably didn't even know what a euphemism was, so that option was out. That meant he was likely just being offered a chance to play a very chaotic board game with two very drunk people. Which was a recipe for disaster. But Zane, tired of all the bullshit he had had to deal with for the past few hours and itching to do something at least mildly entertaining regardless of the consequences, pretended to briefly think about the proposal before answering with a nod.
"Sure.", he said, and James grinned widely. Zane gulped at the sight. He desperately hoped he wouldn't regret his decision in morning.
Yet another chapter of a fic no one asked for. I'm sorry if it feels like I'm pacing the romance in this fic horribly, but if I don't get people together sooner rather than later, it'll take forever to happen. Sorry if Zane and Chazz are OOC, but I like writing them like this. Next time, the morning after and more chaos!
So long and Goodnight, Thackery Binx.
