Just a little oneshot I wrote while I was struggling with 'Delirium'...behold the Chazz/Jaden fluff! Consider this a consolation for the fact that I won't be able to update 'Delirium' for at least two weeks. Enjoy, and please leave me a review to tell me what you thought - constructive criticism is gladly accepted, flames are gladly disregarded. Have fun reading!
Disclaimer: another one? Alright, alright...I do not own Yugioh GX or it's characters, they are the property of a Japanese guy whose name I can never remember.
You're Pretty
"Pretty?!" Chazz said incredulously.
"Well, yeah," Jaden scratched his nose, not noticing the utter loathing that was radiating off his rival at that moment, "I mean, your hair is all shiny, and your legs are all smooth, and- gah!" He was cut off by the pale hand that clamped around his throat and proceeded to throttle him senseless.
"I am not pretty!" Chazz snarled, only letting go when Jaden began turning a peculiar shade of blue, since he didn't really want a Slifer's death on his conscience, "Pretty is for girls, of which I am not."
"You use more hair product than most girls," Jaden muttered, then yelped and made a mad dash for the door when Chazz stood up from his chair.
"Slacker! Come back here so I can beat some sense into you!" He heard Chazz's voice, and knew the black-haired boy was running after him.
"I was only stating the truth!" Jaden answered, running past a group of students who all sighed and rolled their eyes - another typical day at the Slifer dorm; Jaden said something stupid and Chazz retorted with violence. Same old, same old.
Chazz managed to catch Jaden on one of the grassy paths, leaping with a war cry of 'I'm gonna Chazz you up!' and tackling the boy to the floor, pinning him down with his own body.
"Now repeat after me," he told the struggling Slifer, "'Chazz Princeton is in no way pretty or girly'."
"But then I'd be lying," Jaden pointed out, and cried out when Chazz's fingers dug mercilessly into his sides, "Chazz, stop! That tickles!"
"That's the whole point. Now let's try this again: 'Chazz Princeton is-"
"-'In no way pretty or girly'," Jaden finished breathlessly, "Will you let me go now?"
"I'm not done," Chazz growled, "Repeat: 'Chazz Princeton oozes masculinity'."
"But-" Jaden was cut off by a glare from Chazz and the threat of tickling fingers, "'Chazz Princeton oozes masculinity'," he repeated obediently.
"Better. 'Chazz Princeton is better than Jaden Yuki in every way," Chazz continued, figuring that while he had Jaden pinned like this he might as well make him say what Chazz wanted.
"'Chazz Princeton is better than Jaden Yuki in every way," Jaden echoed, and a grin quirked his lips, "Except Duel Monsters, since he keeps losing-"
"That does it, you're going down!" Chazz tickled the boy underneath him ferociously until the brunet was practically writhing under his touch.
"Chazz! St-stop! That's - ah! Cha-Chazz!" He half-pleaded, half-laughed, "Let me go!"
"Not until you beg for mercy...and admit I'm the next King of Games," Chazz answered somewhat playfully, finding some satisfaction in seeing Jaden so utterly helpless.
"Never!" Jaden bravely declared, reaching up and poking Chazz in the ribcage.
"Hey, no fair! I'm supposed to be the one who- oh no you don't," he grabbed Jaden, who had tried to wriggle away whilst Chazz was distracted. A brief but harmless struggle ensued, after which Jaden ended up on top of Chazz, and cheering for victory.
"Alright! The 'oozing masculinity' Chazz Princeton is once again defeated by the almighty Jaden Yuki, future King of Games! What do you say to that, Cha..." he trailed off at the sight underneath him:
Chazz was sprawled out, wild ebony hair splayed everywhere and cheeks flushed pink from the struggle; his shoulders were still heaving with breath, and Jaden could feel a frantic heartbeat pulsing beneath him. He looked...
"What?" Chazz asked when Jaden gawked at him, "Slacker, why are you looking at me like that?"
"I think..." Jaden swallowed nervously, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden, "You really are pretty, Chazz," he whispered sheepishly.
Chazz tinged further pink then, and not from their earlier actions; "I am not pretty," he mumbled, sounding faintly flustered, "Pretty is for girls."
Jaden shook his head, "Not that kind of pretty," he told the boy, "It's different, better. Girls aren't as pretty as you are."
"Do you even have any idea what you're saying?" Chazz glared at him.
"Not really," Jaden admitted, "I just know what I feel...and that this moment is kind of awkward."
"You got that right," the black Slifer muttered and tried to cross his arms - but Jaden still had them pinned, so he settled for frowning instead, "Anyway, you're not supposed to feel that way about me."
"Why?"
"Because it's wrong."
"But why?"
"Because we're both boys!" Chazz snapped irritably, ignoring the twinge of pain in his chest when he said that, "You're supposed to feel that way about girls, not boys!"
"But I don't. I only feel that way about you," Jaden stated.
"Well you're not supposed to! You'll just have to...ignore it or something, maybe it'll go away."
"So you don't feel the same way about me?"
"No," Chazz insisted, and banished the niggle of doubt in the back of his mind at once, "I like Alexis, remember? I'm normal."
"Oh...okay," Jaden climbed off the other and stood up, looking fairly disheartened. Normally Chazz would have taken a cruel satisfaction in seeing this...but no, he just felt vaguely guilty. "I'm gonna go duel Syrus or something. See you around, Chazz," with that he walked off before Chazz could say anything, leaving a certain black-coated Slifer sat dumbfounded on the floor.
"What's wrong with Jaden? He doesn't seem like his usual self today," Bastion pointed out after class the next day.
"I know, he didn't even try to steal any of my fried shrimp at lunch!" Syrus declared, sounding slightly upset. Chazz swallowed the lump forming in his throat and glanced at Jaden, who was sat solitary underneath a tree, sorting out his deck with a look of concentration on his face.
I shouldn't feel guilty...it's not my fault he got rejected. Well, it kinda is, but I like girls, not boys! I can't just switch preference!
"He does look a little deflated. Did anything happen yesterday, Syrus?" Alexis asked. Chazz tried concentrating on her chest while she talked and found, to his great distress, that it didn't fascinate him as per usual.
I can't just switch preference...can I?!
"Not that I know of...he was asleep when I came back to the dorm yesterday, and he's been like this ever since he woke up," Syrus told Alexis, "I'm worried...is Jaden sick? Maybe he's caught the flu or something..."
"Nobody else has the flu- Chazz, what do you think you're doing?!" Alexis exclaimed when she noticed Chazz trying to look up he skirt.
"No, no...nothing," Chazz said glumly, stepping back before Alxis could hit him, "What's wrong with me? Did it affect me that much?"
"Did what affect you that much?" Bastion inquired curiously.
"I suppose there's only one way to find out..." the black-haired boy sighed, ignoring Bastion's question. With that he drew a breath and marched over to the tree Jaden was sat beneath.
"See? Now Chazz is acting funny!" Syrus cried, "It's only a matter of time before it takes us all! We're doomed - doomed!"
Chazz walked over to Jaden who, noticing the shadow cast over his cards, looked up to see who was there:
"Chazz?" He frowned.
"Slacker," Chazz grunted in reply, plonking himself down next to Jaden, "A little blue-haired birdie tells me you haven't been yourself lately."
"You saw a blue-haired bird? Wow, that's rare. What's it called?"
"Syrus, slacker. He mentioned something about fried shrimp and flu," Chazz lowered his voice as though someone might be listening in, "This is about yesterday, isn't it?"
"Well, yeah..." Jaden shifted nervously, "I'm sorry Chazz, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything-"
"Can it, slacker. Thanks to you I'm no longer mesmerised by Alexis' girly bits. You've managed to make me switch my entire preference."
"Really?" Jaden's eyes lit up, "So do you like me now? That's great!"
"No slacker, it is not 'great'," Chazz snapped, "Don't you see what this means? We like each other! And we're both boys!"
"So?"
"So, it's wrong! I already told you, boys aren't supposed to like each other like that!" He let out a breath, "Okay, let's think things through...if I can switch class we should be able to see less of each other, and then we'll think less of each other, and then I can go back to drooling at Alexis."
Jaden looked sad, "But Chazz...I don't want to see less of you! I want to see more of you!"
"Well I don't! I want to go back to normal!" Chazz snarled angrily, "We need to stay as far away from each other as possible and think about girls and stuff!"
"But Chazz, I already tried that!" Jaden told him pitifully, "I went back to the dorm and I thought really hard about girls, but it didn't work, so I thought about dueling - and that worked for a bit, but then I thought about dueling you, and then we weren't dueling, we were-"
"Shut up!" Chazz hissed, clapping a hand over Jaden's mouth, "Just shut up! I don't want to hear about what we were doing! It's all in your head, you understand? And that's where it'll stay!"
"No Chazz, I don't understand," Jaden said, puling Chazz's hand down - and not letting go of it, to Chazz's disgust and guilty pleasure, "You like me, I like you...so what's the problem?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? We're the same gender. It's homosexuality! It's wrong!"
"Says who?"
"Everyone! Relationships between males are...are looked down upon; they're not supposed to happen!"
"But Chazz, you've never cared what people thought of you before this, why change now?"
"Because this is different!"
"How?"
The question rendered him speechless: how was it different? People already looked down on his abilities, his attitude, even his appearance...and he ignored them all and walked with his head held high. Why not just add preference to the list? Would it really make such a huge difference?
"See what I mean?" Jaden said, correctly translating Chazz's silence, "And if it's looked down upon...well, it's shouldn't be, but if it is...it doesn't matter so long as we're happy, right? And being with you makes me happy."
"But..." Chazz still didn't seem convinced.
"I'll tell you what," Jaden declared, "Kiss me."
"What?!"
"You heard. Kiss me, and tell me if it feels right or wrong. If it's wrong, you can switch classes to get away from me or whatever. If it's right...then you have no more excuses," Jaden stuck his chin out determinedly, "Kiss me. Right here, right now."
"But Jaden-" Chazz looked around the grounds apprehensively, "There are people here."
"Might as well do it out in the open," Jaden shrugged, apparently not bothered by the fact, "You'll never know unless you try."
"They say ignorance is bliss," Chazz grumbled, but after a moments fidgety hesitation, leaned in and brushed lips with the brunet Slifer. Several gasps could be heard from the direction of Alexis, Syrus and Bastion.
"Hm...that felt pretty right to me," Jaden nodded when their lips parted, "What about you?"
"I..." Chazz brought a palm to his chest, feeling his heart flutter wildly underneath. He hated to say it, but he couldn't lie: "It felt...right."
"Hah! I thought so!" Jaden cheered triumphantly, "So you'll go out with me now, right?"
"I'm not exactly left with much of a choice," Chazz muttered, cheeks going red as he felt the stares from people who'd seen the kiss and heard Jaden's cheer. He pulled his jacket collar over his face in an attempt to hide from prying eyes.
"Awesome! We could go on one of those 'date' things, like swimming, or to the movies, even though they don't have a cinema here- hey Chazz, what's wrong? Why are you hiding?" He pushed the collar down with a finger to see Chazz's upset face, "Chazz? Why do you look so sad? Aren't you happy for us?"
"I don't want there to be an 'us'!" Chazz seethed, wrenching his coat collar away from Jaden and back over his burning cheeks, "I just want to be normal!"
"But Chazz, we are normal - for us, anyway," Jaden cocked his head to one side, still confused as to why Chazz wasn't as happy as he was, "This is our normality."
"I should be thinking about Alexis, not you," Chazz mumbled, yanking his collar up further still until only his hair was visible, "This is your fault, Jaden. You ruined me."
"But...Chazz..." Jaden trailed off, feeling his chest ache at the harsh words. Did really hate the idea of them together so much? Even if it was what he wanted at the same time? No, Jaden wasn't going to let that happen. He was going to get Chazz to admit his true feelings no matter what!
"Jaden?" Chazz dropped his coat collar when he felt two palms lay firm against his shoulders, "What are you do-ing!" he yelped when Jaden pushed him over and straddled his thighs, pinning him to the ground.
"You need to stop worrying about what other people may think," Jaden announced, "And so I, Jaden Yuki, will tickle you until you admit your true feelings and get over silly reputation issues. Game on!" He poked Chazz in the ribcage, causing the other boy to almost shriek - in a manly way, of course.
"Jaden! St-stop it! I can't breathe!" Chazz gasped as Jaden unrelentingly poked his chest in various ticklish spots, "Alright, I admit my feelings! Now get off me!"
"How do I know you're not just saying that? You could be bluffing just to get me to stop."
"I'm not, really! I - ah - damnit - Jaden!"
"Heck, this is more fun than I thought. You're really ticklish, aren't you?"
"Jaden..." Chazz growled, then seized a handul of the boy's shirt, dragging him down onto his chest...and his lips.
And before Jaden could blink, he'd been flipped over.
"Hah," Chazz breathed from his place on top of Jaden, "I win."
"Sure about that?" Jaden smiled. Chazz's eyes widened when he realised what had happened - he'd kissed Jaden. By his own incentive. In front of everybody.
"In this game, losing isn't such a bad thing," Jaden assured him, "I never thought I'd say this to you, Chazz, but...stop thinking about other people. Just think about yourself."
"Myself, huh?" Chazz flashed his trademark smirk, "I guess I could do that."
"Great!" Jaden beamed, then reached up and tucked a loose strand of black hair behind Chazz's ear; "You know," he said as an afterthought, "I still think you look pretty."
"Slacker..." Chazz warned, but his annoyance melted away when Jaden leaned up and kissed him chastely. Huh. He guessed being pretty wasn't that bad after all.