Monopoly

Monopoly: /noun/ an organisation or group that has complete control over something so that others have no share.

It all started with an innocent gesture; at the time nobody even thought of the consequences. Nobody ever does. It's just one of those traumatic things that happen, and you learn to deal with in time…

Kame Game Shop, Saturday evening, 7:00pm

"Hey, Ryou? I'm bored; maybe we could play a game or something?"

The boy referred to as Ryou, a silver haired teen who was lying on the sofa opposite the person who had spoken moved his head in their direction. His movements were slow and lethargic. Eventually his chocolate brown orbs were locked with honey ones.

"Jounouchi-kun, I am not going to play some idiotic computer game with you. You always beat me so where is the challenge? Ask Yuugi, he'll pose more of a threat."

Jou mulled over this thought as Ryou turned over again, closing his eyes slightly. It was true that Yuugi was an expert at most games, as was his Yami. That was the main reason he had asked Ryou, as Yuugi would kick his butt within three seconds.

Said boy entered the living room attempting to balance three cans of Pepsi and a packet of cookies. He was not succeeding and almost managed to drop them. Fortunately the only thing dropped was a single can; this he gave to Jou.

"Thanks man."

Click

"Shit!!!"

Yuugi grinned sheepishly as Jou glared up at him, golden blonde bangs dripping with still fizzing brown liquid. Ryou smiled and giggled slightly, as he carefully opened his own can and took a sip. Yuugi grabbed a tissue for his friend and helped him to wipe the excess droplets off.

"Yuug, we are going to play a little game. I was going to go easy on you; but after that little stunt I'm not holding back."

"Well, Jou, as the scoring between us stands at…"

"94-0."

"…94-0, thanks Ryou, I fail to feel threatened."

Jou growled and mentioned something about spending 'way too much time around that pharaoh' and began the process of setting up the PS2. He waited for the Tekken 4 menu to appear and passed a controller to his friend.

"Thank you Jounouchi-kun."

"Whatever. Prepare to be beaten!"

Yuugi raised an eyebrow in a very Yami-like way, and chose his character; Ling Xiayou. Jou snorted, and picked a rather muscular man by the name of Steve Fox. Jou would always go for the muscles, thinking that simply because the man was larger he would therefore win.

"Why did you pick a girl? A girl in a little pink dress with pigtails! She's tiny! My guy will crush her!"

Yuugi smiled and waited for the countdown to begin. Jou was so confident in his choice, his long elegant fingers ready over the controllers, a smug smirk on his face. He was so sure that this time he would win.

-15 games later-

"Not again! Oh, man, what are you doing so differently to me? That's it; we're switching controllers!"

-Another 15 games later-

"I think I preferred the controller I was using first."

"Does it really matter?"

"YES it matters."

-A further 15 minutes later-

"Jounouchi-kun, my hands are tired."

"We are not leaving until I have won."

-Yet another 15 games later-

"Not until I have won."

-14 and a half games later-

"Oh yeah! Ryou, look, I think I'm about to win! Seriously man, this could be it!"

A curse could be heard from what sounded like the kitchen, but no one paid attention as Jou was so elated from his soon-to-be victory, Ryou was shocked that Jou was actually winning for a change, and Yuugi was trying to make it look like he was putting effort in. He was tired and bored of the game, if letting Jou win meant that he could go have a drink, then so be it.

"Oh yeah, one more hit and….what the?"

Jou's honey brown eyes widened in fear as the screen went blank, followed by all of the lights in the house plunging them into total darkness. Yuugi and Ryou looked about wildly, but Jou just sat staring at the screen, shocked.

After a few seconds two dark figures appeared at the doorway, and called for the three to come into the kitchen where candles were being lit. Ryou felt his way to the door where a soft golden glow was spreading. Yuugi got up from his position on the floor and offered a hand to a dazed Jounouchi, a small sympathetic smile on his face.

"I'm sorry Jou, maybe next time you'll beat me?"

"…"

They followed Ryou into the kitchen where three other boys were already sitting around a table lighting anything that could be lit. Anything.

"Bakura not the tablecloth!"

Bakura, who bared a striking resemblance to Ryou who had told him off, smirked slightly and went back to lighting candles. There weren't many of them; five tea lights and two big blue ones.

A boy with tri-coloured hair and crimson eyes turned around from where he had been digging through the drawers looking for anything helpful. He looked a lot like Yuugi besides eye colour and height. He had a frustrated look on his face and was clasping a torch.

"I'll have to go down to the basement so I can take a look at the fuse box; Bakura since this is your fault I think you should come too."

Bakura, who had been attempting to relight the tablecloth, turned his attention to the other boy as soon as he heard his name. He was soon dragged off out of the kitchen followed by the third boy.

"You'll need my help, I'm sure that neither of you know how to screw in a light bulb, let alone fix a broken fuse…"

Two growls of protest were heard as the three boys headed towards the basement of the Game Shop. Yuugi turned to the remaining boys, and could tell that Jou was already bored. Said blonde teen had an amazingly short attention span, and was already picking at the burned tablecloth.

"How about a game, Jounouchi?"

"Okay, sounds cool. I'll go get the PS2 set up."

"That's not what I meant-" Yuugi stared helplessly through the dim light at Ryou, and they waited a few seconds for their friend to return. A moment later Jou re-entered the room a stoic expression on his face.

"You meant a board game, right?"

"Yes, the power is off remember? No electricity, no lights…no PS2."

Jou, feeling slightly embarrassed, walked over to the fridge when realisation dawned on him that the cans of Carling were getting warm. He feverishly opened the door, almost ripping it off, and pulled out the packs.

"Hmm, we have to drink 24 cans by the end of the night. I think we can do it."

"Er, Jou, why can't we just leave them until the power comes back on? We can always re-cool them…"

Too late, Jou had already passed out cans and was on his way to the games cupboard with a small tea light in hand. He rummaged through the dusty boxes, with the invention of computer games these had been neglected and had gathered an impressive amount of dust. Coughing slightly Jou pulled out the nearest one; Monopoly.

Outside a flash of lightning and a roar of thunder were heard.

"That was strange."

"Yeah…oh well. Anyone up for Monopoly?" Keen to alleviate the boredom, the other two readily agreed and cleared the table of everything bar the candles.

"Right, first decision; which piece does everyone want?"

"Dog." If you thought that a hikari was unable of glaring then think again, Yuugi and Ryou were both pretty damn adamant about being represented by a small silver dog. For some strange reason Jou was more than willing to allow them that piece, muttering something about 'Kaiba…puppy…bastard…'

He quickly grabbed his favourite piece; the boat, and placed it on 'Go'. He then sat back to watch the two hikari's battle it out over the silver dog. Yuugi won, in the end. And Ryou reluctantly took the iron.

When the three pieces were settled onto the 'Go' square it was time to sort out the money. Easier said than done; they devised an 'open-system' rule, where by each player is trusted to take their own money. Jou was the first to be caught breaching this rule, as the other two unanimously decided it was impossible to pick up twelve £500 notes instead of the two. Nobody noticed the five stuffed into Yuugi's pocket, or the four up Ryou's sleeve.

The game had yet to begin and already Jou was losing (although he was unaware of this), Yuugi found the two dice and rolled first. Causing an outcry from Jou.

"It doesn't make any difference who rolls first Jounouchi-kun; it doesn't affect the value on the dice."

"But you'll use up all of the sixes!"

"Jou! Have you been paying attention at all in statistics? The probability of rolling a six is always the same no matter what the previous value was. Unless, of course, the dice is biased but-"

"What if the dice is biased?"

"Ryou, please, can we just get on with the game?"

Ryou and Jou nodded haughtily and crossed their arms. Yuugi rolled his eyes and handed the dice to Ryou, who rolled them gently, still suspicious about the dice.

"Aha! Nine, did I beat Yuugi?"

"No, sorry. I got eleven."

All eyes were on Jou as he clasped the dice tightly. He stuck his tongue out to the side, shook the dice in both hands swaying them from side to side, blowing on the lightly-

"Come on, Jou, roll the dice!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry."

Two. Jou groaned and slammed his hand down onto the table in anger as Yuugi grabbed the dice and rolled once again. He moved the dog, earning a glare from Ryou, onto the 'Chance' space. He took the top peach card and overturned it.

Your building loan matures receive £150

"Yes oh yes!" Yuugi stuck his tongue out at a glaring Ryou as he took his £150 out of the bank…plus a few 100's.

"My turn!"

"Er, Jou, my score was next highest so I have the second go."

"Yeah but I'm left of Yuug' and we go round clockwise yeah?"

In the dim light pages could be heard rustling, and for the first time ever the rule book was being consulted. (Gasp)

"Actually Ryou, Jou is right it's his turn."

"Yuugi, I thought we were fellow hikari's -- we're supposed to look out for each other!"

"Yeah but Yuug' is my best friend!"

Jou smiled and hugged Yuugi, and stole £50 from Yuugi's money pile. Picking up the dice he rolled…a three. Straight onto the income tax square.

"Oh shit! I want another throw -- that was a practice roll!"

Ryou shook his head, as did Yuugi and Jou reluctantly coughed up the dough. Ryou rolled next and landed on the 'chance' space next to Yuugi. He carefully took one, his face showing no emotion as he read the words silently and replaced the card on the bottom of the pile.

"Well Ryou?"

"I refuse to pay. I never break the speeding limit, so why should I pay?"

"How much?"

"£15."

"Just pay the damned money and give me the dice."

Yuugi snatched the dice from Ryou and rolled…a seven. He moved the silver dog around, enjoying Ryou's annoyance, and landed safely on the pink square. They continued playing, and cheating, for a few minutes until a yell and cursing was heard from somewhere in the basement; though no one paid any attention.

Back to the game, and the bank was running low on money…even though they had only just been round the board once. Jou was suspiciously poor, due to his crappy stealing skills.

"How come I don't have any money? That's not fair! You guys are cheating!"

"It's not our fault you can't play properly!"

They were suddenly alerted to the presence of the other three boys by the laughter from the doorway. It is safe to presume, however, that they had been unsuccessful in their fuse-fixing task as the lights were still out. Yami walked up to the board and tried to search for the dog.

"Who has the dog? I wanted to be the dog!"

"Sorry Yami, I got the dog."

The ex-pharaoh pouted and took the seat next to his hikari. Refusing to use any of the other pieces he chose a pound coin instead, preferring its golden colour as opposed to the 'cheap silver crap'.

Bakura took the car and sat down next to Ryou, stealing a few notes from the dried up bank. (I would like to remind everyone that Bakura was the king of thieves. But that was a thousand years ago, and he wasn't against hikari's back then.)

"What's up with the bank? Let me guess, you've been cheating?"

Yuugi and Ryou put on their innocent faces, while trying to conceal the large wads of cash they had 'acquired', Jou grinned. Sighing, the CEO took some of the notes back and distributed a few to Yami and Bakura, deciding that he would not participate in the stupid game but would be the banker instead.

So the new game started, as did the cheating. Even with Seto's watchful eye Ryou took four £10 notes instead of two, Yami stole one of the property cards when he wasn't looking and Jou moved his piece forwards an extra space to avoid going to jail. But they weren't the only one's cheating…

"I passed Go, Seto I need two hundred pounds."

Seto nodded to Yuugi, smiled, and passed him some golden notes, sandwiched between them was a pink five hundred. Yuugi looked up and Seto winked. Grinning Yuugi placed the money in his pile. Seto did this for both Yuugi and Ryou, their Yami's and Jou didn't even realise since they were so wrapped up in cheating themselves.

Eventually the bank ran dry again; all that was left were a few fives and lots of one's. (No one ever bothers to steal those notes). And rather than give in their hard stolen cash they decided to raid the game cupboard once again, finding the board game 'Payday' which also has fake notes. Although they do have a slightly higher value…

"I want thirty houses on Pall mall."

"Yuug, you can't have thirty houses on one property. That's cheating!"

"You can talk! You have two pieces on the board!"

Jou laughed slightly and flicked the top hat onto the floor discreetly. "I don't know what you're talking about Yuug, are you suggesting I'm cheating?"

"I'm not suggesting…"

Yami coughed loudly, drawing attention from the other two boys. He wrapped an arm around Yuugi in an attempt to calm his koibito down some, and glared at Jou for no apparent reason. It worked though, and Jou just mumbled something and rolled the dice. Shame it wasn't his turn.

"Hey, it's my go."

"No, I'm next to Yuug, it was his go last, and therefore it is my turn."

"Dumbass, I'm next to Yuugi, you're next to me."

Jou squinted through the darkness and realised Bakura was right. The silver haired Yami had taken a seat between him and Yuugi and now it was his turn. In Jou's defence one of the candles had died out and the others weren't far behind. But that is a pretty crappy excuse.

So Bakura snatched the dice from Jou's hand and rolled an eight, he landed on 'Community Chest'. He picked up the stack of pastel pink cards and began sifting through them looking for the best one.

"This'll do…'Bank error in your favour, collect £200'. If you will, Kaiba."

The bank was completely out of Monopoly money and was onto the Payday notes. Unfortunately as mentioned the game operates on a different monetary scale, and Bakura was awarded the smallest amount of a £500 note.

Jou once again took the dice, shook them, blew on them…and blew out the last candles…

The room was filled with a collective groan. "Jou!"

"Eheh, sorry guys."

"Well now what?"

"Who said that?"

"Ryou, can't you tell by the accent?"

"It could've been Bakura."

"You're Bakura."

"…I knew that."

"Baka yami…"

"What did I do?"

"No not you…my yami."

"Just shut up the lot of you!"

"PMS much?"

"Shut up Bakura."

"I got a personal shut up! Kaiba loves me!"

-Whack-

"Ow, you bastard, that wasn't Bakura that was me!"

"Who's 'me?'"

"Yuugi."

"Sorry. The point -- if Bakura will just shut up for a second -- is we need to find some more candles. The storm has died down a bit so we should go take another look at the fuse box in a little while too."

"Er, Kaiba?"

"What is it Yuugi?"

"We have no more candles."

"Just relight the ones Jou blew out."

-Click-

The room was filled with the golden glow of candles as Bakura put away his lighter. Jou took the dice and -- without blowing them -- rolled. Straight onto the 'go to jail' space.

"Crap."

Ryou rolled next and was most disappointed to land on 'go', meaning he wouldn't get any money till next time. He reluctantly handed the dice over to Yami who rolled onto a property. Which he bought with his large stocks of money. He then turned to Yuugi, noticing that his hikari had the property he needed to make a street. Some bargaining was in order.

"Yuugi, I'll give you this blue one for that red one."

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"Did I not say it right?"

"Why not?"

"I like the red one and I don't need a blue one."

"Okay then…how about a purple one?"

"No."

"Green?"

"No."

"Purple?"

"You already said that one."

"Green?"

"Are they the only things you have?"

"…"

"How about I give you the red card and you give me…a kiss?"

Yami's eyes widened and he nodded. He leaned over and captured Yuugi's lips, holding his koibito around the waist. The others looked away as the kiss grew more intense; Yuugi wanted to get a good deal after all. Finally the two broke apart and Yuugi handed over 'Trafalgar Square'. Yami smirked, now he had a street, he started eyeing up the competition; Jou didn't have much money left, and only had two property cards. He was going down.

Although Bakura was the self proclaimed 'King of Thieves' he wasn't fairing too well either. He had a few property cards and a wad of cash, but no where near as much as the hikari's. He had a 'Get out of Jail Free' card too. Yuugi and Ryou however were extremely rich and between them owned most of the board and the bank.

The game progressed and though Yami had thought Jou was going out first it turned out Bakura had the misfortune of losing first. He had the bad luck to land on the hikari's property time and time again draining his funds and his dignity with it. Although Ryou had settled for kisses as payment, Yuugi had refused bluntly. The rest of Bakura's funds had been donated to Ryou and the hikari was now sitting in Bakura's lap.

Jou was still hanging on by the skin of his teeth, and rolled the dice…and went straight to jail.

"This game is rigged! That's like the hundredth time!"

Jou struggled to gather £50 for his release, after mortgaging his only property. He turned to Seto, but the CEO simply smirked and shook his head. Jou pouted and tried to steal some money from Ryou, but Bakura slapped his hand away.

A few turns later Jou had to declare bankruptcy, and donated his wealth (which wasn't much) and houses to Yuugi. Yami was getting worried now; he stood alone against the two hikari's. Jou had crawled onto Seto's lap and was playing with his brown hair much to the CEO's annoyance, though he made no attempt to move the blonde.

Yami decided that it wasn't worth it; he was no where near as ruthless as the 'angel's of light' and gave all of his things to Yuugi, and then became his cushion.

Yuugi and Ryou were locked in a furious battle, each sweetly trying to out-monopolise the other. It didn't last long, though, as the candles dwindled to nothing and gave out their last flickers of light. The game shop was plunged into darkness once again.

The six boys all looked around wildly, even though it was completely dark. They had been drinking the Carling cans all evening remember.

As if a miracle was answered before anyone could make a stupid and obvious comment about the lack of illumination the lights all sprang on and the soft hum of the fridge alerted them that the power was back. The thunder storm had died down and the rain was a mere mist.

"Alright! The lights are back on!"

Evidently nothing was going to stop them from making the inane comment. Everyone could see that the lights had returned, but unless someone stated the fact perhaps no one would actually notice?

"We don't have to play stupid board games any more! Come on Yuug, I want a rematch!"

Yuugi groaned loudly as he was dragged through to the living room leaving the others to clean up the Monopoly mess and candles which had virtually melted to the table. Ryou yawned and glanced at the (thankfully not electrical) clock. It was way past midnight.

"Maybe we should get ready for bed, I'm exhausted. That game really tired me out."

Bakura nodded and picked his hikari up, heading for the guest room. Yami went to go save his little hikari from possibly an entire night of Tekken as Seto put the game away.

A rogue bolt of lightning flashed through the sky as he shut the door, and Seto involuntarily shuddered, then decided this was OOC and tried to take it back. He watched as Yami carried a sleeping Yuugi up to their bedroom, the smaller boy was nuzzling Yami in his slumber. He had to admit that they made a good couple. He nodded goodnight to Yami, as the spirit carefully made his way upstairs trying not to wake his bundle. Seto's own boyfriend was sitting in the living room, controller still in hand with the words; you lose flashing across the screen. He knelt down behind him and wrapped his arms around the blonde.

"Maybe next time you'll win."

"I don't need your pity."

"Sure you don't. You suck at Tekken, you suck at Monopoly and you suck at Duel Monsters. Is there anything you are good at?"

Seto was answered by Jou pressing his lips against his and pushing him to the floor, discarding the un-needed clothing and showing the CEO just what he was good for…

Owari

Please review.

-Written: Between April - 10th August 2004

-Edited: 10th August 2004

-Dagger