Healing

First Things First: Wow, this was probably my quickest update. Probably because of the lovely reviews. ^_^ Anyway, I’ve become reinvested in this fic… which is good news because I spent a lot of time on it… and actually I wrote the ending… which I think is cute, but maybe I’m saying that because I’m biased. Anyway, there will be seven chapters. I’m not sure if there will need to be an epilogue or not, but I suppose we’ll see. Anyway, we rejoin these characters I don’t own Sunday afternoon. And please review, thanks.


Disclaimer: Nope, me no own it….


Chapter 5: A Little Competition?

It was a weird feeling, waking up in his own bed and eating breakfast with his parents. Both his parents were actually home Sunday morning, and, surprisingly so was Tristan. His mother asked him how Mokuba was doing, Tristan gave her a half mumbled response and retreated to his room. Throughout the later part of the morning and early afternoon Tristan received various phone calls from the rest of the gang, but he had nothing to say to anyone at the moment. He just needed to be in his room for a while. Alone.

So Seto Kaiba had rejected him. Flat out. He couldn’t help thinking back to the conversation.

“Because I’m in love with you.”

“That’s lovely. Now would you leave please?”

“You’re not in love with me?”

“Just because some dead guy tells you I am, doesn’t make it true.”

Tristan sighed again. There was no use dwelling on it. At this point there was nothing that could be done about the situation. He could replay the entire thing over, write it down, sing it in a song… that wasn’t going to change the fact that it happened, and that whatever non-situation Seto and him had was now done.

“I take it we have an arrangement?”

“Just as long as this doesn’t develop into someone catching feelings. You have to promise me you’re not going to come back three weeks from now, desperately in love with me.”

Unfortunately for Tristan he had fallen in love. Only it didn’t take three weeks, Hell it only took three days. Maybe he had gotten it all wrong again, maybe the lust was only driven by the underlying love. This far far to confusing to ponder. He spent the day thinking about it. But the bottom line was, it was now history… and it was over.

“Tristan, Yami’s on the phone. Tristan?” Tristan sighed. Well, it was Yami who insisted he talk to Seto in the first place, he supposed there wasn’t too much more damage the spirit could do at this point.

“I’ll take it up here, mom…” Tristan sighed one last time and picked up the phone. “Hello, Yami.”

“Tristan, how are you?”

“Feels like my heart’s been wrenched out and stepped on. Other than that, I’m good.”

“He said he didn’t love you?” Yami asked.

“Not in so many words.”

“I see.”

“Could you be a little bit more vague, Yami?”

“He’s afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Of you, and him… together. He doesn’t think it’ll work. So he pushed you away.”

Tristan rolled his eyes. “How lucky I am to have a former pharaoh’s opinion.”

“I figured he’d get angry if you told him you loved him first.”

“So you sent me there with full knowledge I’d be told to “get the hell out” of his room?”

“No. I had no direct knowledge that’d happen. But I knew if you said you loved him he’d get upset. Kaiba doesn’t like to be boxed in a corner when it comes to his feelings. He thinks he’d be better off without you. But when he realizes he’s wrong it may be too late.”

“How do you know all this? Last I checked you weren’t some psychologist or something.”

“Seto Kaiba has tried to hide his emotions for most of his life. But in doing so he makes it that much easier to figure out. It’s the subtle things that you can pick up on.”

“You act like you’re the one in love with him, Yami.”

“You don’t think he loves you?”

“I thought he did… I thought I saw something in his eyes, but I don’t know anymore. Either way I’m not going to go chasing after him. As far as I’m concerned this thing between us is over. Unless Seto does something damn near spectacular I’d say it’s a wrap.”

~.~

Tristan received a phone call from Duke around 4:30 in the afternoon. He hadn’t picked up Duke’s calls from the previous night or in the morning. So he decided he could at least have the courtesy to speak to him.

He did feel bad.

“Joey was pretty confused as to what was going on with you. Ryou and I filled in the blanks and he was pretty angry with you.”

“Which was to be expected.”

“I’m sure Yami’s already given you his two cents.”

“Most definitely.”

“Yugi will probably pout and hug you and ask forty-five times if you’re okay during lunch tomorrow.”

“I’m looking forward to it, Duke.”

“But that’s not why I called. Anyway, here’s the deal, Tris, I just wanted you to know that if you need anything, I’m here. If you want to rant or complain or talk or cry or whatever, I’m here. You probably spent the day in your room, with your thoughts, you’ve probably analyzed the situation to death and have come no closer to any solace. But regardless, if at any moment,timetime you want to share something I’m all ears. Okay?”

Tristan didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t say anything for several minutes, a little numb.

“Anyway, I’ll let you get back to whatever it is you’ve been doing.” Tristan nodded silently, knowing his friend couldn’t see him on the other side.

“Duke?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

~.~

“Here, Mokuba.” Seto handed the adolescent water after his latest coughing fit. “Are you okay now?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Can I ask you something, Seto?”

“Yes.”

“How will I know if Kimi really does like me in return?” Seto lifted an eyebrow. “How can I tell, Tristan says he thinks she does. But I want to know for sure.” The girl in question had come by for another visit Sunday afternoon, and had stayed until the evening. “There has to be a way to tell.”

“Well, you could ask her, Mokuba.”

“I can’t do that. What if she asks me why I’m asking? I can’t tell her I’m in love with her.”

“You wouldn’t have to say all that. Just tell her you’re curious. I don’t understand why you believe you’re in love with her in the first place.”

“Tristan went over the warning signs of love. And they all applied to me. I could go over them with you, Seto. If you want.”

“That’s quite okay. Given the source I don’t see myself wanting to rely on that.”

Mokuba gave Seto a look. “But Seto, don’t you love Tristan?”

“Why would you think I did?”

“You slept with him.”

“Your point?”

Under normal circumstances, Seto would be a little disturbed that Mokuba and him were discussing his sexual activities. But Saturday night they had had a conversation about it, and Mokuba admitted to walking into Seto’s room early Saturday morning to wake up the CEO for brunch. He was more than a little surprised to see Tristan underneath Seto’s left arm. He wasn’t a naïve child.

He certainly knew what had happened the night before.

Seto was thankful for Mokuba’s discretion when it came time to explain to his guests where both Seto and Tristan were. Of course as Yami had pointed out, they all knew. But that was all behind him now. And he was sure the nosy idiots all knew that Seto had broken the entire liaison off.

“I don’t understand, Seto, if you weren’t in love with Tristan why did you sleep with him?” Mokuba’s curiosity was not appreciated at the moment.

“It’s complicated, Mokuba.”

“I don’t see how. If you weren’t in love with him you wouldn’t be so mad about the situation.”

“The conversation is over, Mokuba.” Seto narrowed his eyes.

“When’s he coming over to watch me again?”

“He won’t be back.” They exchanged a look.

“I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want anything to do with you either.” Seto said nothing and left the room.

Mokuba sighed. His brother was being an asshole. Seto had been exhibiting the warning signs of being in love. And as far as Mokuba could piece together Tristaned fed for him, and probably loved him in return. Why was this such a problem? If they both had feelings for each other why couldn’t they be together? If Kimi had feelings for him he’d want to be with her. It’d be nice to have a girlfriend, someone to play video games with. What was the big deal anyway? Mokuba just hoped he wouldn’t get older and start acting as silly as his older brother.

He sighed again. Was Seto mad at him? Mokuba crawled out of his bed and trudged down the hallway. He knocked on the door. “Come in, Mokuba.” Mokuba did.

“How did you know it was me?”

“You always come looking for me when you think I’m upset with you. I’m not upset with you Mokuba. I just have a lot of stuff to worry about right now.” Mokuba nodded and sat down on the bed. Seto gave Mokuba another look.

“Are you thinking about Tristan?” Seto sighed, annoyed. “I bet you are.”

“And what if I am?”

“It’s one of the warning signs.”

“How did I know you were going to say that, Mokuba.” His younger brother’s candor was frustrating Seto. “Listen, I have a lot of work to finish. I’m not going to go in tomorrow, so I have to get ahead of my work. I’d appreciate some privacy, Mokuba. And you should get some rest, you had a busy weekend.”

Mokuba stood up.

It was painfully clear that Seto had nothing else to contribute to the matter.

He walked over to door. He would give Seto his space. He could be pretty hard- headed sometimes, and he’d have to realize the ramifications of what he did on his own. There was nothing Mokuba could do when Seto got into super stubborn mode.

Mokuba gave Seto a final look. “So that’s it then? You and Tristan are completely finished?”

“There was never a me and Tristan, Mokuba.” Seto met gray eyes. “We both agreed in the beginning that this was only going to be about sex. He’s the one who threw his feelings into it.”

“Obviously he didn’t realize he’d be dealing with a coward when he said it.” Then Mo lef left the room.

Seto narrowed his eyes.

A coward? He was no coward.

What the Hell did Mokuba know?

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Okay, so he had woken up with a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, and he had felt sick and ill, and strangely empty. He wouldn’t even lie, it was true, he did care for Tristan. Perhaps even love him. Maybe he was even in love with him. But Tristan broke their promise. They were supposed to be friends and lovers, not in love with each other. He was done with it. It was over. Unless something miraculous happened, Seto considered the entire thing ancient history.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

True to form Joey was angry and Yugi was concerned. But before either of them could act characteristically Duke announced that the subject of what did and didn’t happen between Tristan Taylor and Seto Kaiba was official off limits. If Tristan wanted to share any information he’d be the one to bring it up. Tristan was more than a little amazed at Duke’s consideration. Yugi still had a small look of worry on his face but gave Tristan one of his biggest and brightest smiles, while Ryou successfully kept Joey quiet with a bag of pretzels.

Lunch had actually been bearable. And by the end of it, Yugi knew Tristan was going to be fine, and any resentment Joey felt subsided. Tristan actually laughed a few times. By the time lunch was over Tristan was reinvested, refreshed, and okay. Well, as okay as one could be given the circumstances.

It was in Japanese Lit class that Tristan finally broke the ice. Tristan and Seto said nothing in physics. But this was really silly now. He would have to be the bigger per Af After all, he was concerned about Mokuba. And despite this being over between them, whatever “this” was, he didn’t feel that they had to be mature about it. So Tristan sat next to Seto for their partner work and asked, “How’s Mokuba been feeling?”

“Alright. He didn’t cough very much yesterday. I think he was trying to impress Kimi.”

“Why doesn’t he just ask her out already, this is getting so old.” Tristan smiled.

“I think Mokuba’s trying to play hard to get.”

“And Kimi’s been playing coy, I was in the room when she called him Friday. She’s a little flirt, that girl.”

Seto smirked.

“So are you going to work today?”

“Working from home.” Tristan nodded.

“Listen, I have the same work schedule this week. So I can come by tomorrow, Thursday and Friday if you like.”

Seto swallowed.

Tristan noticed.

“I suppose that would be okay. I’ll try to get home at a decent hour this time.” Seto knew that Tristan noticed, so he had to recover as best as he could. “I feel bad for exploiting your free babysitting services. I really will make an effort to get back to the house as quickly as possible.

“Okay then.” Tristan smiled.

Warmth.

Warmth on Seto’s face. And inside himself. This couldn’t be normal. Was he supposed to be reacting this way? Were those butterflies he just felt? Should his heart’s pace have dramatically increased? Goddamn physical attraction. But of course it wasn’t limited to that. Oh no, he was smitten. Definitely, completely.

But this was over.

It wasn’t like Seto could ask for a do-over at this point. And Tristan had obviously dealt with it. He had to give the other chestnut haired boy credit. He was very in control of his feelings, or at least he came off that way. Saturday he had shared six words. They had conversed for seven minutes. And now it was as if nothing had happened.

The way Seto wanted it.

Right?

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Tristan ran into Duke as he entered the school building Tuesday morning.

“How are you? I hear you’re going over to Kaiba’s after school today.”

Well, at least Duke got right to the point. “Yeah, who told you?”

“Joey. Who heard it from Ryou.”

“I don’t even bother telling everyone my business, I just tell one person and it spreads like a cold.” There was a hint of annoyance in Tristan’s voice. Duke picked up on it and changed the subject.

“Speaking of colds…So that guy in our gym class, the one you think is cute, he was asking Yami about Mokuba being sick. It looks like everyone knows about it now.”

“Yeah, I guess it was bound to get out sooner or later. I’m surprised the press didn’t pick up on it quicker. One of the richest families in Domino, you’d think they’d be on it like white on rice.” Duke nodded.

“I think it’s pretty noble of you to put everything behind you and still go take care of him after school.”

“Well, I love Mokuba. And I can’t take this out on him. Besides, it really feels like it’s over. I had a pretty normal conversation with Seto yesterday in class. So I think it’s all returning back to normal.”

“You still look upset Tristan. I wish there was something I could do that would cheer you up. Hey, let’s go out Friday night.”

“Friday night? I’m supposed to be watching Mokuba.”

“Okay, well then, after that. We can go to the movies or something, and you can sleep over. That sound good?” Duke was smiling. Tristan gave the raven-haired guy a little smile.

“Can we invite Yugi and everyone else?” Duke nodded.

“Of course,” he replied. “It’s not a good time with out Bakura and Joey.”

“Okay then. That’d be good.” Tristan smiled. Duke smiled back.

“I got to get to my locker, but I’ll talk to you in gym class, okay?”

“Um hum.” Duke smiled again and headed down the hall. Tristan’s eyebrows met.

What the hell had that been about?

Go to the movies, sleep over? I haven’t spent the night at Duke’s house in a very long time. At least not without the rest of the guys. Please tell me I’m reading too far into this. But then again, that weird phone call Sunday, the lunch incident yesterday. What does this mean… I’m jumping to conclusions here.

~.~

Right before lunch Tristan stopped at his locker. Well, first he stopped at Yugi’s locker, then Joey’s. He couldn’t remember where he left his Japanese Lit book. It was a really silly problem, when he thought about it. Half the time they all swapped lockers. Joey kept his chemistry book in Yugi’s locker because it was close to his class. Duke left his math book in Ryou’s locker for the same reason. It just made it easier for everyone. oursourse Tristan often got himself mixed up, like today.

Not to mention, it was hard remembering what combo opened which locker.

The whole thing was taxing his nerves. But he finally got to his own locker and unlocked it to pull out his book. He was already a good ten minutes late to lunch. What was another minute? Tristan was putting his physics book in and taking out his literature book.

Then he saw it.

A blood red rose.

What is this?

From Ryou to Joey, no doubt. Or maybe the other way around. The two of them were about as lovey-dubby as two people could get. Yami and Yugi had nothing on them. Tristan picked it up. At least it was thorn- less.

Ryou had gotten that raise at the coffee shop that he worked at. He must have had some extra money this week.

Except there was a small slip of paper attached to it with Tristan’s name on it.

Two little words:

To Tristan.

No return address, no from “blankity blank”.

Tristan was a little miffed. Yugi. This had to be the little guy’s doing. He was always very considerate and caring. This was definitely him. Tristan gathered his things and headed into the cafeteria. Rose in hand.

“Tristan, we were getting worried, what took you so long?” Ryou asked, smiling at the brunet.

“Yeah, Tris, we figured you fell on Kaiba’s dick or something,” Joey teased. Tristan rolled his eyes but smirked. Ryou gave his boyfriend an unpleased look, but seeing that Tristan was now comfortable enough with the whole thing to take it lightly, he decided against reprimanding the blond.

“What’s that, Tris?” Duke asked, pointing to the flower at hand.

“Yugi’s present.” Tristan sat at the table.

“Don’t let Yami see you giving that to him, you might wind up with a one way ticket to the shadow realm,” Joey joked. Leave it to Joey to turn anything into a comedy routine.

“Joey, this isn’t for Yugi. It’s from him.” Yugi frowned.

“No it’s not, Tristan.” Tristan’s frown came next.

“Where’d you get that from?” Duke asked.

“My locker.”

“Well, duh, Tris, we all share your locker, that rose obviously belongs to me,” Joey said, reaching his hand out.

“Baka, it has my name on it.” Tristan showed them. They passed it around the table, each examining it.

“Who’s handwriting is that?” Ryou asked, giving it to Duke. Duke sniffed it.

“Well, I think it’s clear none of us sent it. What about Malik? Maybe it was Tea or Mai,” Duke answered.

“Or Yami or Bakura,” Joey added. They gave Joey a look. “Okay, so it’s probably from Mai or Tea.”

“But why?” Tristan asked, thoroughly confused.

“We allw yow you weren’t in your normal Tristan mood, so maybe they figured they’d cheer you up. You know how they are. Girls do this kind of thing.” Joey handed the rose back to Tristan.

“I guess so. They could have mentioned it though. Or put down a name.”

“Women are weird like that,” Joey explained. Ryou rolled his eyes. But smiled.

~.~

The rose was in stark contrast to the ivory colored chair-desk combo. It was the first thing all of Tristan’s classmates noticed in their Japanese lit class. Tristan wasn’t trying to show it off, but he didn’t want to put it in his book bag and risk it getting damaged.

Seto Kaiba’s clear blue eyes were drawn to it. He resisted the urge to ask Tristan where it had come from, and waited until they were sitting next to each other for their group work to even acknowledge it’s existence.

“Take a trip to a greenhouse lately?” His voice was even, his emotions carefully in check. He was back. Back to being cool and collected Seto.

“No, I found it in my locker.”

“How do you know it’s yours, I see you and your little circle of friends in and out of each other’s lockers all the time.”

“Has my name on it.” He let the CEO look at it.

“Thorn-less, I see.” He handed it back. “Who’s it from, happy go lucky Yugi?”

“Actually, I don’t know who’s it from. I thought it was from him, but it wasn’t. I asked Malik, he said no. Then I asked Tea and Mai, but they said they didn’t leave it for me.”

“I see.”

Seto appeared uninterested.

So Tristan prodded a little.

“I have a guess.”

“Do you?” Seto asked casually.

“I think it might be Duke.”

“Devlin?” Seto’s eyebrow lifted. “Why?”

Tristan shrugged.

“I didn’t realize you guys had that sort of friendship.” Seto pondered just what kind of friendship Tristan and that stupid dice character did have. Was there a point they were also sleeping together? Friends with benefits, friends plus? And here he was thinking about it… like a pathetic jealous teenager. The thought that Duke Devlin of all people would take the time to get a rose, without thorns…

“It’s only a guess though, I honestly don’t know who sent it. But it put me in a good mood.”

“I can see that, you were all smiles walking in here.”

“I guess I was.”

Tristan smiled again.

~.~

“I’m jaded, Tristan. What am I going to do about Kimi?” All Mokuba ever wanted to talk about was Kimi.

“Why don’t you casually mention that you had a dream about the both of you, at the beach or something. Imply that you guys were alone and having a good time, almost like you were dating or something. Then find out what her reaction is. If she’s like “oh that’s a weird dream” she probably doesn’t like you like that. But if she’s like “oh, that’s interesting. Or “oh, that’s really cool” then she does.”

“Okay, I’ll try that.” Mokuba smiled. Then changed subject. “Do you really think the rose is from Duke?”

“I don’t know. It might be him, it’s hard to tell. He’s been acting a little odd lately. Since Sunday.”

“Did you tell Seto you thought it was Duke?”

“I might have casually mentioned it.”

“Was he jealous? Seto doesn’t like Duke.”

“I don’t know, Kiddo. But I don’t think that matters. There’s really nothing going on with me and Seto anymore anyway.”

And there wasn’t.

Right?

~.~. ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Tristan was still half asleep when he arrived to his locker Wednesday morning. Seto had kept his word and gotten home at 9pm. Which was early for him. But Tristan had been wondering about Seto and the mysterious person who sent him the rose. He hadn’t asked either Yami or Bakura, but Bakura had been in and out of school and in the shadow realm so he hadn’t bothered. And there was no logical reason for Yami to give him. .

But now there was now a second rose.

With a longer message…

The rose fell to the floor.

Tristan didn’t have much time to get himself back together, as Duke strolled along, Joey with him. “Morning, Tris, what time did Seto finish with you last night, you look tired?” Joey was making some lame sex joke, Duke was scolding him. The words were swimming in and out of Tristan’s head coming in like a tidal wave then rushing out just as quickly.

“Hey, Tris, you dropped your rose. Why’d you bring it back to school?” Joey picked it up and gave it back to the brunet. “Earth to, Tris, is anyone home?”

“It’s not the same rose.” Tristan’s mouth was incredibly dry. “Look.” The rose passed to Duke.

“To Tristan. From your secret admirer.” Duke looked up into nutmeg eyes. His green eyes wide.

Joey was frantic, grabbing the small slip of paper that hung off the thorn free flower like a small banner or price tag. “Son of a bitch, Tristan, who is it? Who’s your secret admirer?”

“Baka, it’s a secret admirer, Joey. He didn’t leave his name,” Duke answered.

“How do you know it’s a he, Duke?” Joey asked, his honey eyes turning back to the game creator.

“I’m assuming it’s a guy because Tristan’s gay, Joey.”

“So, his secret admirer may not know that.”

“He must know something, cause he knew Tristan’s locker combo to put it in there.”

“Yeah, or maybe it’s you, Duke…”

“Why the Hell would it be me? If I liked Tristan like that I’d let him know.” Joey waved the red flower in the other’s face.

“Yeah, you let him know alright.”

“Shut up, Joey.”

“Can I look at that please?” Joey and Duke, and maybe even Tristan himself, were shocked by the sound of Tristan’s voice. Joey gave it back. “It’s the same handwriting as the fre from yesterday.”

“Maybe we should do a handwriting analysis,” Joey suggested, playfully.

“What’s next, we dust it for fingerprints. Obviously the person went through a lot of trouble to keep their identity a secret,” Duke remarked.

“Oh, so now you’re trying to make it gender neutral. A clever cover up. But not clever enough. I bet your fingerprints are everywhere.”

“No shit Sherlock. I had it in my hands.”

Tristan closed the locker with a slam. Duke and Joey stopped arguing and gave thunetunet a look.

“What, Tris?” Duke asked, worried.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’m suddenly thrilled by someone’s admission of affection towards me. This couldn’t have come at a worse time. The truth is I really loved, Seto. Fuck it, I still love him. It’s hard enough putting up this front like I’m fine. Smiling and joking. I don’t need this right now. From anyone. Guy, girl, animal. I’m trying to let my heart h I’ I’m trying to nurse a broken heart while pretending that this is okay, and I’m fine. I know what I did with Seto was wrong, I know that I set myself up for this emotional roller coaster, but that doesn’t change anything. If either of you figure out who sent this tell them I’m flattered, but frustrated.”

Trn hen headed for homeroom.

“I guess he’s been trying to act brave around us because he doesn’t want us to be concerned,” Joey decided, now upset.

“I’m already concerned.”

Duke and Joey exchanged a look.

~.~

They had lab today in physics. Tristan flopped the rose onto the station without any thought. “Another rose?” Tristan looked up into blue eyes.

“Yeah.”

“From?”

“A secret admirer.”

There was definitely something on the other side of the look Seto was giving him. Jealously maybe?

“What’s the rose, his or her calling card?”

“I guess.” Tristan doodled on his notebook. “Duke seems to think it’s a male.”

“Does he?”

“He says that my secret admirer must know I’m gay if he knows enough about me to get my locker combo.”

“And just how would one accomplish that?”

“Beats me.”

“So obviously it’s from one of your friends.”

“Yeah, but none of my friends are single.” Tristan looked up again. “Except Duke, of course.”

“Of course.” Seto was angry. There was no hiding it.

The stone wall was cracking, and Tristan could clearly see the anger… it leaked out at the mention of the secret admirer, and continued to leak at Duke’s name.

Leak… Hell Seto was narrowing his eyes.

“What makes you so sure it’s from him, I hardly see Duke as the type.”

“I don’t know if it’s from him. At this point it’s only speculation. Part of me thinks this is someone’s idea of a joke.”

“I see.”

“What are your thoughts, Seto?” Seto lifted his eyebrow.

And then in an uncharacteristic move, Seto shrugged.

Shrugged?

Does the CEO of a major multimillion-dollar international enterprise shrug?

Seto Kaiba, no less.

“Maybe it is a joke, Tristan.”

“Maybe.”

~.~

Tristan got home from work tired.

The second rose joined the first. Tristan stared at them. Maybe his reaction earlier had been a little out of line. Seto and him were done. And this mystery person obviously cared. Why was he so angry that someone liked him? Wanted him for something other than sex? Wasn’t he worth more than being Seto Kaiba’s fuck toy? Granted he had wanted to become intimate with Seto, but he never thought things would turn out like this…

And whoever this person was, be it Duke, the cute guy from his gym class or some other person, they really cared about him. They had gone through a lot of trouble. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for him. This could be something amazing, the beginning of a great romance. Tristan finally smiled.

The first real smile since Saturday.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

“I bet there’s a rose in the locker,” Joey said, as they walked down the hallway, early Thursday morning.”

“I bet there is,” Yugi agreed. Yami, Ryou, Malik and Duke were with them. Mai and Tea were close behind. Even Bakura had tagged along.

Tristan was just opening the locker when his friends ved.ved.

“I guess you’re all here for the show, huh?” Tristan was in a better mood. “I’m sorry I was such a toxic friend about it yesterday. I realized that this is actually a cute gesture. Of course with the carrying on I did I bet I scared who ever it was off.”

“Just open the damn locker already, we have better things to do,” Bakura grumbled.

“Well, I guess this officially eliminates Kura as a suspect,” Ryou decided. Of course Bakura was “seeing” Malik, if you could call it that, so he was eliminated by default anyway.

Tristan opened the locker. Sitting on the top shelf was red rose number 3.

The trademark: To Tristan. From Your secret Admirer was attached.

But this time there was an unassuming note card to go with it. It was folded in half, and standing up. Tristan pulled it out. His hand was trembling.

“Here, read it.” He handed it to the person closest to him.

Duke.

“It says,” Duke cleared his voice for dramatic presence. “By now I am aware that you have received my first two flowers. I would have told you who I was in person, but it seems that when you’re not surrounded by your friends, you’re spending afternoons at Seto Kaiba’s house with his kid brother. I couldn’t think of another way to go about this. I hope this won’tnge nge your impression of me. I guess I’m a traditionalist at heart, since I believe if you’re going to give roses, it should be a dozen. I owe you nine more. If you haven’t figured out who I am by then, I’ll tell you upon delivery of the final flower. But I think deep down, you already know who this is. Love, your secret admirer.”

“Love?” Yugi asked.

“Okay, this person is obviously really into you, Tristan,” Ryou decided.

“Or he’s a stalker. Come on, he knows your locker combo, he bemoans about us, your friends, and about you taking care of Mokuba for Kaiba. The person’s bad news. I say leave a note in your locker for him tomorrow saying you’re not looking for some psycho to be obsessed with you right now,” Mai said, half serious.

“I say the guy obviously doesn’t like Kaiba,” Bakura reasoned.

“And what makes you say that?” Joey ask


“Look at it, he only mentions us as “your friends”, but he mentions Kaiba specifically. Leading me to believe he decided to make himself known because he got suspicious of the relationship between the two of them.”

“But nobody really knows what happened between them except us,” Malik pointed out.

“And who knows Tristan’s locker combo?” Tea added.

“Which brings us back to the most obvious answer,” Bakura continued.

“In this case, the most obvious answer is that it’s Duke,” Yami stated. And then all eyes turto tto the raven-haired teen.

“Why me?”

“You’re the only one single, you and Tristan have been good friends for a long time, you know that Kaiba and Tristan are over…”

“We get the point, Yami,” Duke said, bitterly. “Listen, like I said yesterday, it’s not me. I’m too obvious a suspect. If I really did like Tristan I’d have to know that by placing roses in his locker like this I’d be drawing attention to my obvious reasons for it being me.” Duke turned back to Tristan. “Look, I like you a lot, Tris, you’re a really close friend. But I’m not interested. Honest.”

“Okay, Duke.” Tristan met his eyes.

“Well, this is quite the puzzle then,” Yugi thought. “Where do we start looking for clues?”

“I don’t know. But I think part of what Bakura said is valid, the person mentioned Seto Kaiba specifically. And there’s no reason to jump to the conclusion that he knows that Kaiba and Tristan had a fling,” Ryou decided.

“You know, we could just wait until he tells Tristan nine days from now,” Joey thought.

“Yeah right. I say we look at a yearbook and make up a suspect list,” Mai mentioned, intrigued. “This person could be a weirdo.”

“That’s very true, he does know Tristan’s locker combo. Which means that he’s been closer to Tristan than Tristan realized,” Malik said.

“Unless of course it really is Duke,” Joey added. Duke gave him a glare.

“Or maybe one of us gave his locker number to the secret admirer,” Yami brought up. “We all know each other’s numbers, it’s easy enough for there to have been a slip.”

“The person did say Tristan was as sus surrounded by friends, so it’s possible,” Yugi agreed.

“I just hope he didn’t mean it the way it came off, I don’t like the idea of him not liking us,” Tea thought.

“Damn it, the bell’s gonna ring. We have to goe’lle’ll talk about this later,” Ryou realized. They all said their goodbyes and scattered throughout the hallway.

Tristan stood with the note in his hand.

The rose in the other hand.

Who the hell was it?

Was it really Duke? And if it was….

What was he going to do about it?

~.~.

Mokuba could be really obnoxious if he wanted to be. Seto couldn’t determine whether or not Mokuba was giving him the scoop on Tristan because Tristan had suggested it, or because Mokuba was nosy. Either way, when Mokuba finished Seto had lots to think about. He was angry, and that was upsetting him further. He hadn’t planned on thinking about Tristan today, but that had gone out the window.

Mokuba implied that Tristan was thinking it was Duke, but wasn’t too excited about the prospect. Did that mean Tristan didn’t want it to be Duke? Duke was a loser, after all. But at the same time Mokuba said that Tristan was flattered, and he’d be happy no matter who it turned out to be. Of course Tristan probably hadn’t run over the possibility that it was an ax murderer or serial rapist or Hell, actually Duke Devlin or another one of his moronic friends.

To think Tristan would be happy that it was Duke. Ha, absurd. The way Mokuba talked it sounded like his brother wanted it to be Duke. Maybe Tristan did too…

Tristan happy being with Duke?

Seto sincerely doubted that.


Author’s Endnotes: That’s all she wrote. Soon, I will update very soon, I already got half of the next chapter written. 2 more to go guys. Are you anticipating it? So, who the Hell is Tristan’s secret admirer? And what about Seto… sounds to me like he sure the hell doesn’t like the whole idea… What will he do… will he take a page out of some romantic comedy and tell Tristan how he really feels and win him back? He better get it in gear. He has ndaysdays… As for this mystery Romeo… Is he a stalker? Or Bandit Keith? Or Duke? Will he be devastated by Tristan’s rejection if Seto does win Tristan back… will the stubborn CEO even try… will I ever stop typing this endnote? Anyway… a taste of the next piece of this puzzle:


“I look at it like this, if Kaiba really loves Tristan he should say something, before this mystery man moves in on his territory. It’s an open challenge, the guy mentioned his name in two notes, obviously he’s provoking a response, or at the very least he wants to make sure there is nobody in the way when he moves in and sweeps Tristan off his feet.” Joey nodded at Malik, the Egyptian made a good point.

“I thought Yami said Kaiba loves him? Mokuba’s been keeping him posted with all the updates… he doesn’t have that much time left. You’d think he’d make a move.”

“Maybe he doesn’t think whoever it is is really a threat, or he doesn’t love Tristan in the first place.”

“Or maybe he thinks it’s Duke, like we do, and he knows Tristan would be quite happy giving him a chance. Especially after Kaiba’s rejection.” Malik gave Joey a look.

“Your money’s really on Duke, huh, Joey?”

“Literally. I placed a bet in the pool in my math class.”

“I heard people all over school were placing bets… I’d normally say it’s not nice to encourage such behavior, but I have to admit I placed a bet too…”