Fractured future

Title: Fractured future 1/?
Author: Akuchan
Rating: R
Pairing (s): Seto/Jounouchi
Wish maker: Joey
Beta: Daisey
Spoilers: Throughout the series
Disclaimer: I never have and never will own Yugioh. And I don't make
any money from this story either.
Summary: After a run-in with Kaiba, Jounouchi foolishly wishes for
something that adversely affects Kaiba, and changes the course of his
own life. The two are thrown together, and gradually become closer
but to take their relationship to its full potential Jounouchi has to
overcome his guilt.
Author’s note: This was written for the Winter Wishes Challenge at A Dragon’s Lair. The premise is simple, either Jounouchi or Seto makes a wish and it comes true in the next heartbeat. The rules state that the writer does not have to explain how the wish came true, only how the wish maker responds to it happening. If the wish alters reality the only person that is aware that things have changed is the wish maker.

*********************

"I'm the luckiest sonovabitch around. I send the fucker down a
flight of stairs, he ends up breakin' both his legs and instead of me
goin' ta hell, we end up actually bein' friends." And, if I have it
my way, we'll be more than that soon. But, there is that little issue
of the accident, and it being my fault; I have to work through ~that~
before I can take that final step. Guilt is a bitch, and who'd have
figured that I'd be one to be tripped up by it? I notice that my
friend isn't saying anything, and when I take a peek to see how he's
taking it all, I realize that he thinks that I've lost my
marbles. "Don't look at me like that! I did send him down the
stairs. I don't care if you've seen the tape and that I was nowhere
near the scene when it happened. I'm tellin' ya, Yug, it's my fault.
And I'll tell ya how I did it, but ya gotta promise me ya ain't gonna
laugh, and ya won't be callin' the men in the white coats when I do
tell ya." I clear my throat and square my shoulders before I say the
thing that I've been having a hard time coming to grips with
myself. "It happened because I wished for it to happen." There, I
said it out loud. That wasn't so bad now, was it? Ah fuck it, he's
laughin'.

"Now see, ya promised ya wouldn't laugh, but there ya are rollin'
around on the ground like an idiot, and I see that look in your eye.
Ya think I'm off my rocker, cuckoo, in need of a stay in the loony
bin. But it's true, and if ya'd stop guffawing long enough, I'd give
ya the details and ya'd see I'm not lying."

My idiot best friend doesn't look like he's going to stop laughing
any time soon. In fact, it doesn't even look like he's heard a damn
thing I've said since my confession. Sheesh, some friend he is. Did
we laugh at him when he told us about the spirit inside of him? Ok,
so maybe we did, but eventually we believed him. And you'd think a
guy that once had an ancient pharaoh living inside of him, and who
has been at the center of all the shit that we've seen over the
years, would be a little less judgmental of me when I say that Kaiba
took that flying leap down the stairs because I wished it. So I do
the one thing that I know will get him to shut up. I remind him of
that. "Ah come on Yug…" I make sure the whine is extra long and
squeaky, and I try to make my eyes as sad looking as they can be. I
call it the kicked puppy look—hey, I learned it from the master, and
now the master is going to have the tables turned on him—and even if
I can't get them to go three times their normal size like he can, the
look is effective. "Did we laugh at ~you~ when ya told us about the
other you?"

That gets his attention, but he doesn't look at all contrite. In
fact, he looks a bit on the pissed off side. He sits up and hits me
with a piercing glare. I wasn't even aware that that look of his had
gained an edge with age, and it's kind of scary instead of just being
hysterically funny. "Actually, Jounouchi, you did," he states matter-
of-factly.

Oops, he wasn't supposed to remember that. "Oh yeah. Sorry, bud. But
ya did convince us, and that's all I'm askin' from you. A chance to
state my case, I want somebody else's opinion, someone to assure me
that I'm not insane." I can't believe he just snorted. "Just hear me
out, okay?"

"Okay fine, Jounouchi, tell me how it is that you think that Kaiba
took that fall because you wished it," he says, rising from the floor
and taking a seat on the chair across from the couch that I'm sitting
on. New couch and chair, I remind myself, just recently purchased by
me. I'm still having a time coming to grips with the fact that I'm a
contributing member of society with a decent paying job, and that I'm
living in a nice apartment, again, paid for by me. Can't help but
feel pride over that, even if everything else is fucked up.

I ignore the patronizing tone that he's just taken. I know that this
is going to be a tough sell, and I'm strongly reconsidering my plan
of talking to Yugi about this, but it's kind of late for common sense
to kick in. Before I start though, I get him to promise to just
listen to me and not interrupt, even though some of what he's going
to hear won't jive with what he knows to be our lives. Once I get
his assertion that he'll let me talk until I'm done, I begin to tell
him about the part I played in Kaiba's accident.

It started back when we were in high school. In Yugi's reality, that
would be six years ago. Mine too, but I also remember the incident as
happening just a few short weeks ago. Actually, in the memories that
~are~ from six years ago, the incident that changed everything never
happened. Yeah, yeah, I know it doesn't make any sense, but it's
true. Don't worry about the details for now; it'll become clearer as
the story unfolds. No, honest it will, and no, I'm not suffering
from brain damage from me being dropped on my head when I was kid; at
least I don't think so. So yeah, where was I? Oh right, one day back
in high school. It was near the end of the fall term, and I was
trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
Funny how all of a sudden that had become important, and everything
that every teacher had ever said about paying attention in school and
getting better grades was coming back to bite me in the ass. At
least I had been making an effort, and though I wouldn't get into a
top-notch school, I had improved and had the grades to get into a
good, second-rung school. I'd have to do it on my own dime, though;
my marks weren't high enough to get me any kind of scholarship, which
meant that I would be staying in Domino to go to school. There was no
way that I could afford to go away. As much as that sucked, it was
kind of nice to have that decision taken away. Now I just had to
figure out what I would take. I didn't have a clue, really.

I was so busy worrying about what I was going to do with my future
that I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking, and I ended up
tripping over the first step on the main staircase leading to the
second floor, fell flat on my face. Because my mind was on something
else, I didn't even brace myself, and I came down hard. My elbow was
screaming, it having taken the brunt of the fall. Thought it might
be broken, it hurt that much, but I could move my arm so it was
likely that it was only bruised. Once that first bit of pain
subsided, I took a look around to see if anyone had witnessed my
little fall. Fortunately there were only a few people about, and they
weren't laughing – too hard. Unfortunately, one of those people
happened to be Kaiba. He was standing just behind me, and though he
wasn't laughing outright, I could see the scorn written all over his
face, which just made my insides boil. I promised myself that I
wouldn't start anything, and I chewed on the inside of my cheek to
stop anything from popping out of my mouth. I was quite proud of
myself as I gathered up my stuff, aware that the whole time he was
watching me. I knew that, if I looked, that haughty `I'm better than
you look,' would still be on his face, which would make me want to
beat him to a pulp, so I pretended to ignore him. I was doing real
good, too, until he passed me on his way up the stairs, and just
under his breath I heard him say `Loser, learn how to walk why don't
you?'

Really, when you think about it, it wasn't a very cutting remark, and
you'd think that someone who was equipped with the razor sharp wit
that Kaiba was blessed with would have been able to come up with
something a bit more scathing. Sadly, I didn't think about that at
the time. I was seventeen, embarrassed, and in a lot of pain, and so
I did what I did best—I acted without thinking. Yeah, yeah, I know
what you're thinking, so just stuff it. So anyway, without a sound, I
launched myself at him. But he must have been expecting it, because
he moved out of my way before I got anywhere near him, and I ended up
sprawled all over the staircase, again, this time injuring my left
wrist on impact. The audience for this show was much larger and a lot
louder in their amusement at my predicament. I blocked them out as
best I could as I gathered up my things. I knew Kaiba was still
standing there; I could feel his mocking gaze on me with every move
that I made, never mind that the highly polished toe of his shoe was
peeking over the edge of the stair, and always seemed to be right in
my line of sight. I just knew that if I looked at him, I'd lose it
again. A guy can only stand so much humiliation in one day, ya know,
so as difficult as it was, I kept my head down and focused on getting
out of there with what little dignity I had left intact. I was
almost free; my books and papers were collected, but Kaiba was
waiting for me, and just when I was about to stand up, the bastard
made his move. I felt the sole of his shoe land in the middle of my
forehead, and then he tilted my head back, forcing me to lock gazes
with him. "Nice try Jounouchi," he growled, "but you'll never, ever
get the best of me, so give it up already." He pushed me away and I
almost fell backwards down the steps, but some quick instincts had me
grabbing the railing and screaming from the pain shooting up from my
wrist, but I didn't fall again. I even managed to hang on to my
books this time, too. I haven't a clue how I managed that; I think
the gods must have felt some pity for me by that time. That didn't
stop the jerk from getting in a parting shot though. Just as he
reached the landing he turned around, shaking his head, and clucking
his tongue he sneered, "You're so clumsy, Jounouchi, that I'm amazed
that you can walk without breaking anything."

Again, what he said was pretty lame, but the tone, man, that tone. It
still makes my blood boil when I think about it. In fact, my fists
are clenched right now while I'm telling my story. But back to what
happened. Like any self-respecting male, I launched myself up the
stairs, intent on beating the snot out of him. I didn't care that it
had just been proven that I'd fail miserably—rage is stupid like
that. Like I said, a guy can only take so much. Fortunately—or
unfortunately, I haven't really decided which yet— the guys' gym
teacher, Sakamoto sensei, clapped a beefy paw on my shoulder,
effectively putting an end to this round with Kaiba. I thought he
was going to give me shit for fighting, but shock of all shocks, he
actually smiled sympathetically and told me to go to the nurse's
office to get myself checked out. I was still pissed mind you, but
he was one of a very few teachers that I cared about what he thought
about me, and if he was giving me a break, I wasn't about to
disappoint him by sneaking up another staircase to get at Kaiba.

The whole time that I was walking to the nurse's office, I kept going
over the incident in my head. By the time I got there, I was even
more worked up than I was when it had first happened. While I was
waiting for someone to check me out, I closed my eyes and imagined
all kinds of evil things that I'd like to do to Kaiba. Now I'm not
sure exactly if I said it out loud or if it was just in my head, but
I found myself wishing that, at some news conference where he was
announcing Kaiba Corp.'s latest and greatest, he would fall down the
massive staircase inside the lobby of KC headquarters and embarrass
himself publicly by having it caught on tape. But I didn't stop
there, no, of course I didn't. I also wished that he would break a
leg, and deciding that one wasn't punishment enough for his rotten
treatment of me, I threw in the second one for good measure. And
then, just to add insult to injury, I thought that it would be
hysterical if I were to take care of him while he was convalescing.
Of course my ideas of taking care of him were vastly different from
anything that you would find in a textbook on patient care. And
then, just like that, I was no longer the angry seventeen-year-old
sitting in the nurse's office at Domino High. Instead, I was a grown
man of twenty-three, seated around a table with six other people
going over the schedule of Kaiba's treatment, and the care that he
would need when he was brought home from hospital.

TBC