Four Seasons of Love

Another chapter! This one’s a little shorter, but I think it’s still good. Or at least not bad.
Disclaimer: Are you crazy? I don’t own these characters. I don’t think it’s even a particularly novel idea, but I'm writing it and not making any money from it.
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Jou loved Yuugi in the fall when they returned to school and could see each other almost every day; Jou had quite his job at the fancy restaurant to focus on his studies, but Yuugi still had to help his grandfather with the game store. Yuugi, Jou, Anzu, and Honda were all in the same classes that year so homework would be a breeze (Yuugi and Anzu helped out Jou and Honda as much as possible) and fun. Sure, there were no more chances to see a half-naked and dripping wet Yuugi as the weather turned cold, but there were one-on-one study sessions where Jou could watch the smaller boy make the cutest faces while studying and sitting not too far away from each other in class.

“Hey, Jou,” a familiar voice greeted Jou when he walked into school one Friday and opened his locker.

“Hey, Yuug’.” Jou greeted his friend with a ruffle of his hair. “Long time, no see. What’s it been, fifteen hours?”

“About that,” Yuugi grinned up at his friend.

“How’s Gramps today?” Jou asked after he had collected all his books for the next couple of periods.

“Fine. As usual. Why do you always ask after Grandpa? Have a thing for older men?” Yuugi joked and then blushed at how crass he had sounded.

That blush, it could be Jou’s undoing. It was endearing and, of course, sexy to no end, but it was the fact it gave Jou an unadulterated view into exactly how Yuugi was feeling at a particular moment that made it so disarming. Jou felt like a piece of Yuugi’s soul was being revealed to him when the other boy blushed and it was enchanting.

“Ah, watch it, Yuug’,” Joy regained enough brain function to threaten his friend harmlessly. “You know he’s my second favourite Moto.”

“Your first being?” Yuugi raised an eyebrow.

“I have heard you have some pretty cute cousins,” Jou teased, easing away from the topic into which he had stupidly stepped.

“You are a laugh riot,” Yuugi rolled his eyes. “Do you want to go to the arcade after school?”

“Hmm,” Jou pretended to think. “I could spend the afternoon at home doing homework and waiting for my dad to stumble in drunk at an ungodly hour or I could spend it with my best friends at the arcade. Tough one.”

“Friend,” Yuugi corrected, entering the classroom for first period.

“Huh?” Jou wondered.

“Well, Anzu has a dance competition next month and is spending all are spare time practicing and Honda was grounded after he failed that Biology test. It’s going to have to be just the two of us. Unless that’s not okay,” Yuugi looked worried.

“Not okay?” Jou thought, trying to slow his racing heart. Aloud he said, “no, that’s fine.”

“Great!” Yuugi beamed at Jou.

“Hey, Jou, Yuugi,” Anzu joined their little cluster around Jou’s desk.

“Hi, Anzu,” Yuugi turned red, and half of Jou’s confused heart did not enjoy the blush because it was for someone else, but the other half still thought it was adorable.

“I'm so happy for the weekend,” Anzu exclaimed. “Although, I have so much to do, it’ll hardly feel like a break.”

“Speak for yourself,” Honda arrived and crossed his arms over his chest. “At least you're not taking an enforced break from everything you like.”

“Maybe you should have studied more for your test,” Anzu looked far from sympathetic.

“I'm going to go sit now,” Yuugi walked away from the tense atmosphere and Jou wished he could have followed him for more reasons than just disliking the vibes around his desk.

The morning passed slowly because school was not exactly something that struck Jou’s fancy, but he was kept busy enough studying for the Math test he had coming up on Monday. By the time lunch rolled around, Jou had to drag himself down to the cafeteria he was so tired and his eyes were going blurry from so much reading. Jou was partway through his lunch when he noticed Yuugi peering at him curiously.

“Do I have something on my face?” Jou rubbed at his cheek.

“I’ve just never seen you look so…” Yuugi looked like he was searching for what to say.

“Unenthused about lunch?” Anzu supplied.

“Yes,” Honda nodded.

“I'm just tired of Math,” Jou sighed. “I don’t even understand sine, and cosine, and tangent. I'm looking forward to going to the arcade this afternoon.”

“Oh, me, too,” Yuugi’s face lit up with a smile.

“Wish I were going,” Honda grumbled.

“Wish you were, too,” Jou half-lied. “How ‘bout you, Anzu? Jealous?”

“I'm not sure. I do like the arcade, but this is a very competition and I need to practice,” she shrugged. “You two have enough fun for all of us.”

“We will,” Yuugi promised.
The rest of the day went about as quickly as cold molasses in Jou’s opinion. He was told off for doodling in his notebook in History class; he did manage to get a Hall Pass and spend ten minutes in the bathroom during Chemistry, but that resulted in his missing the basics for the assignment that was due in a week. All in all, he was glad it was Friday, and when the dismissal bell rang, he was one of the first students out of the classroom and to the lockers. Jou collected all the things he would need for a long weekend of studying, stuffed them into his backpack, and raced to Yuugi’s locker where his friend was debating which books he would need versus those he could comfortably carry.

“Come on, Yuug’,” Jou whined.

“Give me two more minutes,” Yuugi requested. “I have this library book about what we’re studying in Chemistry, do you think I’ll need it for the assignment?”

“The assignment isn't due until Thursday, you can get the book on Monday,” Jou recommended. “Let’s go.”

“Okay, okay,’ Yuugi laughed. “I'm ready to go.”

“Finally,” Jou tried to sound as exasperated as possible.

“Get over it, Jou. It’s not like we won’t have plenty of time at the arcade. Grandpa wants me home by seven for dinner, so we should have a good couple of hours. Plenty of time for me to dominate you,” Yuugi grinned wickedly.


“In games maybe,” at this thought, Jou’s mind ran wild with visions of himself dominating Yuugi in the bedroom, but Jou shook his head. “I don’t know why I agree to go to the arcade with you. You do always win.”

“It’s simple, Jou, you…” Yuugi trailed off, looking above his head.

“I what? Wait, what are you looking at?” Jou wondered aloud and followed his friend’s gaze upward.

“The leaves are changing,” Yuugi murmured. “When did that happen?”

“Sometime between our wasted childhoods and the expanse of adulthood that lies before us?” Jou had read that somewhere and had been saving it to sound impressive.

“Wow, Jou, that’s profound,” Yuugi looked a little shocked.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Jou poked his friend in the side.

“Sorry,” Yuugi squeaked, but continued staring at the tree above them.

“Here,” Jou reached up, grabbed a red leaf, a yellow leaf, and one that was still green, and handed them all to Yuugi.

“What are these for?” Yuugi wondered.

“Well, this way you can have one of each (until they crumble) and keep them for when there are no leaves left on the trees,” Jou shrugged.

“Thanks, Jou,” Yuugi took out one of his textbooks and slid the leaves between pages.

“Can we go to the arcade now?” Jou was becoming uncomfortable with the situation—he had not meant to be so mushy and Yuugi was now standing there with a small thoughtful smile on his face.

“Sure,” Yuugi continued walking.

“So, why do I agree to go to the arcade with you when I know you always win?” Jou went back to the question they had stopped at when Yuugi’s attention had been taken by the leaves. “You never gave me an answer and I need to know why I put myself in this situation.”

“Because I'm your friend,” Yuugi responded simply. “For some strange reason, you like me and spending time with me. Even though I mop the floor with you.”

“Mop the floor with me?” Jou made an indignant face.

“Every time,” Yuugi nodded, trying to keep a straight face.

“You are so dead,” Jou began to chase Yuugi who had a small head start. Once Jou had caught up to Yuugi, he slowed his pace to match his friend’s.

They made it to the arcade before too many people arrived and exchanged their money for as many tokens as they could carry. Yuugi let Jou pick the first game they would play and Jou went for the game at which he was the best: a karate game. Just because it was Jou’s best game did not guarantee him a win and Yuugi snatched a victory from him at the last moment. The two boys had played almost every game in the arcade by the time Yuugi had to leave to go home.

“Are you going to come by the store this weekend?” Yuugi inquired as they rode the bus.

“I don’t know. That math test is going to murder me,” Jou began.

“Oh. I just thought maybe you could come by for dinner. Grandpa’s leaving town for the weekend after dinner tonight so I'm going to be by myself,” Yuugi informed. “You could come over tomorrow and we could do some studying together.”

“Working on Math is not sexy. Working with Yuugi is sexy. Is working on Math with Yuugi sexy?” Jou tried to work it out in his head before giving Yuugi an answer.

“Or not,” Yuugi gave him a hurt look.

“No, I was just thinking about something stupid,” Jou explained. “I'm happy to go to your place. Think you can help me with my problems?”

“What’re your problems?” Yuugi looked concerned. “Where did the teacher lose you?”

“What are those two lines on top of each other before the last number in a Math problem?” Jou joked and Yuugi gave him a grin. “Nah, I have the basics down, but these waves are too much for me. And one of them isn’t even a wave.”

“Okay, well, I'll give it a go, but I'm not making any promises that I’ll be any help,” Yuugi bit his lip.

“Anything you can give me is more help than the teacher ever gave me,” Jou hated the bastard who taught them Math.

“Yeah, but he’s a genius, he can’t help getting frustrated when we’re slow,” Yuugi did not like it when Jou disrespected teachers. Even if Jou thought they deserved it.

“Yeah, a genius,” Jou rolled his eyes.

“He just has a social problem,” Yuugi continued. “You know, I heard he washes his hands after marking every single test. That’s why the papers come back to us wrinkled.”

“Where’d you hear that?” Jou was interested now.

“Some girl who had him last year. Said she walked in on him in the staff room washing his hands with a pile of tests on the table,” Yuugi always pretended not to listen to gossip, but Jou knew he heard things and had the goods on all sorts of people in Domino.

“Probably just finished jerking himself off to Miho’s writing,” Jou laughed derisively and Yuugi giggled, but flushed. “Aw, come on, Yuug’, it’s a perfectly normal act. Haven’t you ever paid attention in Health?”

“Teachers don’t do that,” Yuugi looked around to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. “Besides, he’s married.”

“Have you never seen those shows about predators?” Jou asked. “They’re, like, always married. Or loners. Okay, so maybe I lost my point a little, but it still stands.”

“How does a point you yourself invalidated still stand?” Yuugi giggled again. “This is my stop. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Plan on it. I'll be over at the crack of noon,” Jou rolled his eyes at the old joke.

“See you,” Yuugi stood in front of the bus doors and Jou watched him get off the bus and walk into his home.

Jou was up at nine the next morning to get ready for his “study-date” with Yuugi. He made sure his father was still passed out in his bedroom before leaving; Jou had some spare cash on him so he picked up breakfast at a fast food joint on his way to Yuugi’s. It was eleven thirty when Jou arrived at Yuugi’s home and he wondered if he was not a little too early, he had said he would be there at noon, but he rang the doorbell and waited to see if Yuugi would answer.

“Hi, Jou,” Yuugi came to the door a minute or so after the doorbell had sounded.

“Hey, Yuug’. I brought my books and whatever’s left of my brain. Let’s get to work,” Jou entered the house.

“I thought we’d study in the kitchen because my bedroom holds too many temptations,” Yuugi said innocently, but Jou’s mind immediately went to thoughts of the temptations Yuugi’s room held. “You know, video games, and board games, and such.”

“Right,” Jou nodded and tried to keep himself from going too red at his visions. “So, where should we start?”

“Well, I was thinking we could go over triangles,” Yuugi began, pulling his binder toward himself. “And then circles?”

“I miss the days when teacher just wanted area,” Jou ran his fingers through his hair. “Even though it was hard then, it seems so simple now.”

“Yeah,” Yuugi obviously was only half listening as he arranged his notes.

“And sometimes I wonder if I jumped off a building, would I sprout little wings all over my body and fly out of there,” Jou tested his theory.

“That’s a good question,” Yuugi murmured and then looked up at his friend. “Wait, what did you say?”

“Caught on that I was talking nonsense?” Jou grinned wryly. “I was just trying to see if you were paying attention to me.”

“I'm trying to get myself ready to teach you an entire unit of Math before Monday and you're trying to see if I'm paying attention to you,” Yuugi shook his head.

“All right, all right, I'm a terrible study buddy,” Jou confessed.

They spent six hours going over every note Yuugi had taken in class and Jou had written down the key points and formulae he would need to review the next day. Yuugi was a patient tutor and he spent as much time as Jou needed going over whatever he did not understand, but it was eventually time for them to eat something. Jou began frying up chicken while Yuugi put rice in a pot.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, Yuug’,” Jou said while he made sure the chicken did not burn.

“For what? For studying with you when I need to review, too?” Yuugi waved off Jou’s thanks.

“I'm serious,” Jou looked into Yuugi’s eyes and held his gaze. “I feel like I'm going to do okay on this test because of you.”

“Well, you're welcome, I guess,” Yuugi smiled, but Jou could tell Yuugi did not think there was any reason for Jou to be grateful.

“You know, we make a great team, we should open a restaurant,” Jou declared when they were seated and eating. “I have my restaurant experience and you have business experience. What do you say?”

“I say you're crazy. Your restaurant experience amounts to one summer as a busboy who occasionally watched the cooks and my business experience is running the counter at a game store,” Yuugi laughed.

“You need to dream big to do big, Yuug’,” Jou said sagely. “Not that you haven’t done some big stuff already. But you can’t peak in high school.”

“What kind of big stuff should I dream?” Yuugi inquired. “Maybe I've had enough publicity and attention for the rest of my life. Maybe I don’t want anything more than to find that special person, settle down, and raise some kids.”

“Special person? Not special woman?” Jou’s heart picked up speed at that thought. “Hey, if that’s what you want, then that’s big.”

“I don’t know what I want after high school,” Yuugi confessed. “I have enough prize money from tournaments and savings to be able to afford university, but I don’t want to spend the money if I'm not sure I'm going to be doing what I want.”

“You could take a couple of courses and go from there,” Jou suggested. “But you don’t need to listen to me. I’ll be happy if I just graduate.”

“You're going to graduate, Jou,” Yuugi said as though it were a foregone conclusion.

“Have you thought of traveling? You could do international tournaments and really wow the world,” Jou had thought about doing it himself. Not wowing the world, but making a name for himself in the Duel Monsters world.

“I don’t know if I could do tournaments far from home anymore. It wouldn’t be the same without all my friends there like before,” Yuugi looked sad.

“Come on, Yuug’, don’t look so down, please,” Jou implored. “You and I could do it, though. We could do doubles tournaments. Travel the world, just the two of us.”

“That sounds like fun,” a reluctant smile crept over Yuugi’s face.

“There we go,” Jou was glad to see Yuugi looking brighter. “God, he’s gorgeous when he smiles.”

“Jou, you're looking a little odd,” Yuugi exclaimed.

“Hmm? Sorry,” Jou flushed.

“Are you sick? You better be well enough to take the test on Monday—I'm not helping you study again,” Yuugi promised.

“No, I'm fine,” Jou assured his friend. “You know, I should probably be getting home.”

“Okay,” Yuugi had that sad look on his face again.

“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to look sad anymore,” Jou frowned.

“I'm fine,” it was Yuugi’s turn to say the phrase Jou had been using a lot recently.

“You better be. I really have to go, though,” Jou looked at his watch. “I’ll see you Monday.”

“Bye, Jou,” Yuugi said and walked him to the door.

Jou spent Sunday studying the notes he had taken from Yuugi’s notes and it actually, strangely enough, made sense. Walking into school on Monday Jou felt completely confident in his ability to at least scrape a passing grade on his impending test. He met Yuugi at the latter’s locker and they walked into their Math class talking about what they had done on Sunday. It was a short conversation and they sat at Yuugi’s desk in a not uncomfortable silence waiting for Anzu and Honda to arrive.

“So, did you two have fun over the weekend?” Honda asked grudgingly.

“Well, first Yuugi and I went to the arcade, and then we went parasailing, and then we went waterskiing,” Jou lied. “We had such a fun time, we’re going to do that every time you're grounded.”

“Very nice, Jou, just rub it in,” Honda gave him a tight smile.

“Nah, all we did was go to the arcade Friday afternoon and study for hours on Saturday,” Jou informed. “You didn’t miss much.”

“Then I guess I don’t feel so bad,” Honda shrugged. “Where’s Anzu?”

“No idea,” Yuugi shook his head. “It’s not like her to cut it so close to class starting.”

“I'm here!” Anzu rushed into the classroom at that moment. “Were you three missing me?”

“No,” Jou deadpanned.

“You're just a great guy today, Jou,” Honda observed. “Making me and Anzu feel bad. Who’s next? Yuugi?”

“I don’t know, but everybody better watch out because I'm on fire today,” Jou warned.

“You're going to be if you cross the wrong person,” Anzu advised. “Ooh, the teacher’s here. Good luck on your tests, guys.”

“You’ll do great, Jou. I've taught you well,” Yuugi whispered to him and took his own seat.

Running off the high of Yuugi’s confidence in him, Jou answered the first few questions with no problems and moved on to harder equations. He worked on the test for the majority of the period and was hopeful when he turned in the paper; the teacher barely glanced at Jou as he approached the desk. English passed in a bit of a blur for Jou as they were reading a book Jou had, surprisingly and at Yuugi’s insistence, already read, and he was bored. Lunch could not arrive quickly enough and Jou wondered how he had sat through over a decade of school without having died of boredom yet.

“Jou?” Yuugi was standing in front of Jou’s desk with his head tilted to one side. “Jou, are you in there? It’s time for lunch.”

“Praise the lord,” Jou jumped from his desk and, grabbing Yuugi by the wrist, ran out of the classroom. “I don’t think I'm ever going on to higher learning. It’s one thing to be forced to go to school, but to make the decision to do four more years of it is looking pretty crazy to me right now.”

“You're just saying that,” Anzu rolled her eyes. “Besides, you’ll make more money with a university degree.”

“Shit, Anzu, can’t you at least let me have my fun dreaming about never going back to school?” Jou demanded. “You going to go to university?”

“I don’t know. I’d love to continue dancing,” she mused. “Well, whatever I choose to do, it’s going to make me happy. I don’t want any regrets.”

“No regrets, eh? I'm sure you’ve got a bucket list and you're checking things off one by one,” Honda laughed.
“Well, I have a mental list of things I want to do. Just because you two,” she glared at Jou and Honda, “don’t know what you want to do with your lives, doesn’t mean others don’t. Right, Yuugi?”

“Hmm? Oh, sure, Anzu,” Yuugi looked like he had been brought out of deep thought.

“Were you even listening to the conversation?” Anzu wondered.

Jou immediately remembered how upset Yuugi had become over their similar conversation over the weekend and knew Yuugi was drowning in this one. “You know, whatever, school’s going to last forever anyway. Who cares if we don’t know what we're going to do then or now?”

“Carpe diem, huh?” Honda raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?” Jou just looked at his friend incredulously.

“I was watching this movie and they kept saying “carpe diem”. It means seize the day,” Honda explained.

“Oh. I think you’ve watched too many movies,” Jou told him seriously. “Although, “seize the day” could be a pretty good motto.”

“Jou, your motto should be “seize the bagel” rather than “seize the day”,” Anzu shot.

“How witty you are,” Jou pretended to laugh.

“Stop bickering, will you? You're doing my head in,” Honda rubbed his temples.

“Hey, Yuug’, is everything all right? You haven’t said ten words since we sat down,” Jou observed.

“Me? Yeah, everything’s fine,” Yuugi grinned at his friends.

“You know, you were very anti-social at lunch today,” Jou told Yuugi as they walked home that afternoon. “Had me a little worried.”

“Really, Jou, everything’s fine.”

“You're a crappy liar, Yuug’.”

“I'm just… What’s with everyone’s sudden fascination with the future?” Yuugi queried.

“You're still hung up on what you're going to do after graduation?” Jou knew he had hit the nail on the head when Yuugi grimaced. “Hey, I told you, we’re going to rule the doubles tournaments and make a butt-load of money. Then we’ll show Anzu you don’t need a degree to become filthy rich.”

“Thanks, Jou. You always know how to make me feel better,” Yuugi wrapped his arms around Jou’s waist.

“No problem,” Jou tried really hard not to think about how warm Yuugi’s body felt against his, or how slender Yuugi felt in Jou’s arms, or how much he would have loved to pick Yuugi up and place a kiss on his now upturned lips.

They walked the rest of the way to Yuugi’s place in silence, Jou wanting to lace his fingers with the other’s, but knowing it would be inappropriate. It was true, Jou loved Yuugi in the fall even when school got in the way of spending free time together and Yuugi had to spend Saturdays helping his grandfather at the shop. Jou loved Yuugi all year long.
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Second chapter in a couple of days. This is what happens when my fiancé goes out of town for weeks at a time. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this because I'm enjoying writing it. Again, please let me know if you see any problems, but I would appreciate niceness as I'm quite a sensitive person.