“Otogi-kuuu~uun! Wait up, please, Otogi-kun?”
He heaved a very soft sigh and his fingers clenched a little. He forced himself to relax - after all, it wasn’t the young girl’s fault that he was feeling slightly anxious. He wanted to go home and not to be held up for another thirty minutes; he was tight on his schedule as it was.
Still, he turned around with his trademark brilliant smile on his face, his eyes shining with exuberance as he greeted the girl. He took great pride into memorizing each and every name of his ‘fangirls’; it wasn’t their fault that he was their object of affection. He was born with good looks, and he knew how to cultivate them. He had reveled into the attention bestowed upon him, and he had enjoyed the jealous looks he’d been given. It wasn’t fair to deny all that, it wasn’t fair to deny this girl the attention she was so desperately craving.
“Tomoya-chan,” he said, her name popped up just like that. Bless his good memory! “How have you been?”
As always, she was flattered that he knew her name - Otogi Ryuuji, the greatest and most wonderful object ever lusted after at Domino High, knew her name! Her cheeks flushed and she was momentary out of words, stuttering as she tried to come up with an answer.
“I-I’ve been well, Otogi-kun,” she finally blurted out, batting her eyes at him. Otogi wished that girls would stop doing that. It didn’t make them look cute; if anything, it made them look silly. The overabundance of mascara on her lashes didn’t help matters and made him cringe; she had used so much that everything blotted and stuck together, rendering her fresh, young face into something less-than-appealing, but Otogi was too much of a gentleman to let it show. Besides, it wasn’t all about outside beauty. The girl was nervous because he talked to her, recognized her, acknowledged her; she might be insecure, she might be a little wallflower who finally started to bloom, stepping out of her shell.
He was still smiling at her. It hadn’t been that long ago since he had judged a girl only by her appearances. He judged himself on his appearance too, and his popularity at this school, and the sales of his Dungeon Dice Monsters game. He’d never felt insecure his entire life, dealing with CEO’s at the age of fifteen, running half around the world to save it from its impending doom along with a group of friends. It certainly had changed his priorities, or so he found out when he had returned from America. The Kaiba Corp. Grand Prix had been won by, who else, Mutou Yuugi, his friend.
Ever since Otogi had unpacked his suitcase and resumed going to school, just like the entire group of friends, things had changed. He wondered why he had felt annoyance at his fangirls surrounding him, instead of the usual amusement. He liked being the center of attention, but it had ebbed away for some reason; and he only had to look at Yuugi to know why. Yuugi had never been swamped by fangirls (only fanboys who wanted to know how to strengthen their deck and pry some strategy tips from him) and he’d always been modest and friendly. From the outside, no one could see what burden he was carrying; the golden Sennen Puzzle was visible all right, but not..what it really contained.
Otogi knew what it contained, he very well knew…because the Spirit dwelling into it, a Nameless Pharaoh, had stolen his heart. The irony was killing him, because Otogi didn’t even know the other that well, and he was sharing his body with Yuugi - two minds in one body, and everything that the Pharaoh did, was done to Yuugi’s body. It had felt incredibly awkward, the first time they had kissed - behind a storage shed for athletics equipment. Otogi didn’t know anymore who started it, but all that he remembered was that it felt good, it felt great, and he wanted more.
The girl was talking to him, something about a date. He hated to crush her hopes, but then again, he’d never been too close with his fangirls to begin with. Despite being surrounded by them, Otogi had barely taken anyone out for drinks or dinner, or any other…activity. He knew why every male student at Domino High was jealous at him, but they didn’t know - or realize - that Otogi Ryuuji wasn’t using his fangirls. Moreso, he wasn’t even the touchy-feely type of person many others kept him for. When he had massively crushed on Jounouchi’s sister, sweet little Shizuka, he hadn’t hugged her unless she gave him permission to. Which she never hadn’t…and Shizuka had faded from his eyesight, from his interests, when he noticed the Pharaoh.
He was so different from Yuugi that it was almost ironic…again. The Pharaoh stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, he didn’t slouch, and his eyes were harsh and cold, compared to Yuugi’s. Otogi had seen from up close how those eyes would warm up, would darken, clouded with passion…and it felt good and wrong at the same time, because it was Yuugi’s body entangled with his, but it was the Pharaoh who was the dominant personality, and who whispered into his ear.
“I’m very sorry, Tomoya-chan,” he said as he took the girl’s hand in his, pressing a butterfly light kiss on her skin. “I have to go to a business meeting.”
His own gameshop, the Black Crown, proved to be his rescue once again. Everybody knew that it was his business, and how much he worked on it. It has always been the perfect excuse, and not far beside the truth. It’s actually the one and only excuse that the fangirls seemed to understand; business before pleasure. He could see the tears in her eyes well, but she didn’t start bawling. Otogi made a mental note of the girl; she was brave enough to approach him, and brave enough to carry her loss like a real woman.
After they’ve wished each other goodbye, Otogi picked up the pace. He was running late, and he didn’t like to keep people waiting. He especially didn’t like to keep the Pharaoh waiting, even though he was probably still slumbering in Yuugi’s mind. Their school schedules weren’t the same, and Yuugi already was at home by now. Darn! Hurriedly, he moved past bystanders, working his way through the crowd until he reached the Kame GameShop, with its owner, as usual, sweeping the pavement just in front of it.
“Good afternoon, Mutou-san,” he greeted the elderly man as his hand reached for the door handle.
“Otogi,” he said, acknowledging him. Their short competetive tiff had been buried, and there were more than enough customers for both their stores. Sometimes Otogi wondered if the man simply knew. There was something in his voice, a little amusement, something quirky perhaps, that made Otogi feel that the other…was onto something. He couldn’t really pinpoint it, and the suave, smooth Otogi Ryuuji didn’t dare to ask the man out-right.
“He’s upstairs,” Mutou Sugoroku said, sweeping with the broom. “I can’t wait until Dungeon Dice Monsters 2.0 is released.”
Just like the girl earlier had done in front of him, Otogi’s cheeks flushed a scarlet red and he muttered something under his breath as he pushed the door open. The store was empty, and he knew his way by heart; go through the store, to the right, go up the stairs, to the left, through the kitchen (whoever had designed this house, had been firmly drinking) and then up another flight of stairs, as Yuugi had his room in the attic.
The door was open. Otogi huffed a little from climbing the stairs, and he lifted up his hand, gently knocking a few times.
“Otogi-kun,” Yuugi said, enthusiastically as he turned around. He was sitting behind the desk, with lots of papers in front of him - strange, because Yuugi never was diligent about his homework. Otogi put his backpack down and started to smile. It was a bunch of game manuals, not regular homework.
“So, have you finished all your assignments?”
Yuugi made a comical face and pointed to the closed books on the edge of his desk.
“I still have to start! I was browsing these manuals and I was thinking about the game, how we could rotate the board and to adjust the ruling…”
Otogi listened to the other’s calm babble, his heart wrenching. Vain as he might have been, he was always genuinely concerned for his friends, and he doesn’t like lies or excuses. He asked Yuugi for help to develop a new and improved version of his game, and it has always bothered him that it was just a cover, not to see Yuugi, but…
“I’m sorry, Yuugi-kun,” Otogi said and in a split second he saw the face of his friend scrunched up in a weird expression of surprise and not-understanding. He reached for the Puzzle the same moment the other switched personality - without the Puzzle, it’s not easy to switch back.
“We must tell him someday,” Otogi murmured as he put the heavy object on the desk. How could anyone of them stand lunging this weight around? The Pharaoh had already risen, his hand on Otogi’s shoulder. He immediately answered to the hug, wrapping his arms around the other’s body. He had taught the Pharaoh how to hug properly, the other even less of a touchy-feely person than he was. Reveling into the embrace, his lips have already found an exposed piece of skin he can attach himself to.
“Someday,” the Pharaoh answered him without a second of hesitation, his voice lower than Yuugi’s, and at the moment it was the most melodious sound he ever heard.
They ended up on the bed, seconds after their hug. Someday…someday he would leave, and Yuugi would be the only one left. Someday they would tell him, someday they would be together without having to fool their friends. Otogi sunk his hands into the other’s hair, gently caressing and stroking. The Pharaoh looked back at him, crimson red eyes half-lidded, long dark lashes all natural and beautifully framing. There wasn’t a flaw Otogi could think of; all he saw was perfect beauty in front of him. Someone real. Someone without superficial manners, or who prevailed popularity above integrity.
“We have to,” Otogi insisted, but his own emerald eyes closed already, lips parted in pleasure. The top buttons of his blouse - lousy school uniform - were unfastened by long, slender fingers.
“We have to,” the Pharaoh repeated, but his hand reached for Otogi’s neck to pull him closer, engaging him into another kiss.
It would have to wait for another day.
