Adult-FanFiction.org : Yu-Gi-OH

Similar Differences	By : Amarin Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2748 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Luck: Good, Bad, And Just Plain Weird

For some reason, however, his luck seemed to hold. As he entered the school cafeteria for the third Monday in a row, he realized that he had, in fact, made it two weeks without any problems.
Of course, that didn’t stop him from waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Still, he thought as he took his customary seat at Kaiba’s table. It could be worse. All of the Friendship Cult could be in every single one of my classes.
A shudder ran through him at that thought, and he quickly pulled out his lunch and book, immersing himself in the words of Patricia C. Wrede to dispel the horrendous notion. Like Mercedes Lackey, she wrote stuff with an intriguing, devious plotline, though Wrede’s novellas were much less…serious. The Frying Pan of Doom didn’t sound like a very formidable weapon, but a certain malicious glee filled his heart at the thought of the Pharaoh as a giant poached egg.
He’d even be willing to eat meat for a change, if that happened. Just a nibble off a spiked lock of tri-colored, yoke-filled hair…
Stifling his snickers in his mouthful of pasta salad, he quickly finished up his lunch and turned to his studying. He’d managed to keep up with his math well enough that he didn’t fear failing anymore, so he’d turned his lunchtime study period to another focus: Literature.
Their teacher had apparently decided that while the ‘Great Classics’ were definitely something her students needed to know, there was no reason she couldn’t also throw in some mildly interesting books. If he hadn’t already liked her for not making them read Romeo and Juliet aloud in class – he shuddered as he thought about having to play opposite some annoying female, pretending to be her illicit lover – he would have proclaimed her his favorite teacher for giving them this last assignment.
He’d just settled in to start reading, when he got the shock of his life; well, a mild one anyway.
Seto Kaiba talked to him.
***

Normally Seto Kaiba took no notice of people around him unless they directly impacted his life. Malik Ishtar had in no way come under his sphere of influence in any important capacity since Battle City, lunchtime table sharing notwithstanding.
However, despite the fact that he had not talked to the other boy, he did observe him. After all, when one shares a table with a known psychotic personage who is in possession of a Millennium Item, one either keeps one eye on them at all times, or risks death.
Or banishment to the Shadow Realm, depending on said psycho’s mood.
He could not help but notice his companion seemed no longer as…crazy…as he had during Battle City. Oh, he’d heard from Yugi – or, actually, it was Yami, now that he thought of how tall the spiky-haired duelist was – that it was Malik’s yami, Marik, that had done most of those terrible things.
Keyword there being ‘most’.
Regardless of that fact, he catalogued every piece of information he could about the other boy, and what he found was…surprising.
Malik Ishtar was almost certainly a vegetarian. Not once in the past ten school days had any of his lunches contained meat. It was not conclusive evidence, but he had yet to be proved wrong.
Considering how much Bakura loved blood – and bloody meat – it appeared that either all psychos were not cut from the same mold…or Malik wasn’t psychotic.
Kaiba was pretty sure it was the former.
Malik was weak in math – they shared that class, and Seto had seen him paying strict attention to the teacher, taking extensive notes, and asking questions when he didn’t understand something, when he remained silent in most other classes – and had been studying it during lunch all the first week.
Malik was very studious. The ten or fifteen minutes he took to eat his lunch was shared with whatever novel he was reading, but the remainder of the lunch period was used for study.
And his book choices were interesting – he liked science fiction and fantasy novels – Patricia C. Wrede, Mercedes Lackey, and Piers Anthony had all made appearances as his mealtime reading.
Seto had paid particular attention to what books the Egyptian chose as pleasure reading simply because he’d read – and enjoyed – some of the same books himself. The third Monday Malik had sat at his table was no exception. He was, however, surprised to see Malik’s routine apparently change. When he finished his lunch, instead of reaching for a textbook, he pulled out a thick, hardbound novel, the sticker on the spine declaring that it was the property of the Domino City Library.
Noticing the title of the book the other boy was reading – and remembering that they also had Literature class together, and what assignment Malik was most likely reading this book for – Seto felt the need to point out, “Mizuki-Sensei assigned us ‘The Hobbit’, not the Rings trilogy.”
Malik started at the sound of the brunet’s voice. He recovered quickly, however, nodding. “I know. I read ‘The Hobbit’ several years ago and it didn’t take me long to reread it after she first assigned it. But I only found out about the other three books Tolkien wrote when I went to check out ‘The Hobbit’.”
“So you decided to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy just for fun?” Seto quirked an eyebrow in question, wondering why he was bothering to continue this conversation. True, he’d read the Rings trilogy for ‘fun’, but did he really care if Ishtar was doing the same? Although, if he was going to be…civil…to anyone at this school of his own free will, he could have chosen worse. Malik was much less…irritating than Yugi and his Friendship Freaks.
More insane, too, but maybe that was just Marik’s influence.
Maybe.
Seeming confused by Seto’s sudden show of friendliness, Malik nonetheless said, “Well, yes and no. Rishid really likes movies, and he’s managed to talk me into the seeing the Rings triple feature on Sunday.” He grimaced, rolling his eyes. “The things we do for our family, huh?”
Seto nodded, a slight, almost nonexistent smile curving his lips. Mokuba had roped him into going to see the trilogy a month ago. Not that he’d really minded, but the movie theater would not have been his first choice of venue; he’d rather not have spent all day sitting in those uncomfortable, cramped bucket seats.
“Anyway,” Malik continued, “I’ve heard that the movie script is different from the original storyline, and I wanted to be able to compare them.” He grinned wickedly. “Plus, it has the added benefit of getting me points with Mizuki-Sensei.”
“You’re referring to her habit of asking questions about how the assigned books compare to other books the author wrote, I take it?” Seto said dryly. He remembered distinctly the previous week’s conversation comparing and contrasting ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Meddling fey versus meddling humans…
There were way too many matchmakers in the world, that was for sure. He’d almost been expecting someone to start singing ‘Hello, Dolly’ during the last half of Thursday’s class.
Romance. Bah.
Malik chuckled. “Exactly. I figure most of the students might have seen at least one of the movies, but not many would have read the books. And if the script really is different…” He trailed off leadingly.
Seto knew what Malik was implying: the other students would make fools of themselves and the Egyptian would look like a model student in comparison. The CEO snorted. “You’re evil, Ishtar.”
“And you aren’t?” Malik returned, a sparkle in his eyes signifying he took no offense at the once-true words.
“Touché,” Kaiba quipped dryly.
Malik rolled his eyes. “This is a conversation, Kaiba; not a fencing match.”
Seto quirked a brow; Ishtar knew the origin of that phrase? Interesting… “Well, our words are parrying back and forth, aren’t they?” he said dryly, his sense of humor being one of the things he exercised rarely.
Malik cocked his head to the side, the sparkle in his eyes flashing at the implied challenge. “I refuse to have a battle of wits with an obviously unarmed person, Kaiba,” he teased.
“The ability to speak does not make you intelligent, Ishtar,” Kaiba returned, his mirth concealed underneath a thinly-veiled smirk. The ability to engage in witty banter does put you one-up on the mutt, though.
“Neither does possession of a good vocabulary, but you’ve obviously managed to fool quite a few people that way, haven’t you?” Malik asked.
Kaiba snorted. “I am not a walking thesaurus.”
“And I am not a mental case, but you’d be surprised what most people think,” Malik said, smiling widely.
Not really – until I found out about Marik, I thought much the same thing. “Most people are idiots,” Kaiba said. But you don’t need to know that.
“Present company excluded, of course,” Malik qualified.
Nodding magnanimously, Kaiba agreed, “Of course.” It wasn’t clear whether the CEO was referring to his companion or himself.
Malik frowned. “Well, anyway…thanks for the tip,” he said.
“No problem,” Seto said, and he meant it. It had been an…intriguing conversation.
He might have to do it again sometime.
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