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Jounouchi has a lot of scars, Yuugi’s noticed.
It’s perhaps the least surprising revelation he could’ve made, to be fair. Jounouchi gets into a lot of fights, after all. In fact, that’s the first thing Anzu said about him when they saw him in their classroom on the first day of school. “That’s Katsuya Jounouchi,” she’d told him with a familiar sort of warning in her tone. “I heard he spent all of junior high either fighting or suspended for fighting. Watch out for him, Yuugi.” The rumor mill had, of course, blown the facts way out of proportion, but a lot of those rumors form around a kernel of truth, and the truth is that Jounouchi? He gets in a lot of fights. Enjoys it, even, to a certain degree.
The thing is, though, Yuugi never really thought about the impact from that sort of thing, not until he and Jounouchi became actual friends and started hanging out all the time. He’d spotted flashes of half-healed cuts and yellowing bruises before when they changed for P.E., but Yuugi’s long since learned to keep his head down and not make eye contact with anybody and get into his gym clothes as quickly as physically possible whenever gym class rolls around so those brief glimpses were all he’d seen and he hadn’t really registered them properly in his brain. Now that they spend most of their time together, though, Yuugi can’t not see them.
Most of the time, his focus slips to the ones on Jounouchi’s hand and arms. Tiny pale slashes litter the backs of his hands, likely from his fists scraping against walls or gravel. The fifth knuckle on his right hand has a permanent patch of lighter skin. Tiny pockmarks riddle his forearms. Once, when Jounouchi had raised his shirt sleeve to scratch at his shoulder, Yuugi had spotted a coin-shaped mark on his shoulder that he was too much of a coward to think too deeply about. And there are others, too, thin lines on his sides and a scraped patch on his ankle and one almost-hidden nick right under his jaw that gives Yuugi chills every time he spots it because it’s in a really dangerous spot and if it had been a little deeper or a little longer....
And that is a recipe for a panic attack that Yuugi desperately does not need right now. He’s got enough to worry about without adding old injuries that are completely healed with no lasting damage to the mix, especially since Jounouchi’s already told him the story behind it.
Which is another thing. Jounouchi takes pride in his collection in a way that only people who really love the feeling of a good bare-knuckled brawl seem to do, which is quite the novel experience for a timid guy like Yuugi, who’s never thrown a punch in his life and has no desire to start anytime soon. If he catches Yuugi staring at one for too long, Jounouchi will happily tell him exactly what happened in great detail. Sometimes too much detail. Yuugi likes Jounouchi, he really does, but all the grisly details of a fight still leave him a bit faint-hearted sometimes. He’s working on it, though! Jounouchi is great exposure therapy for that sort of thing.
It’s not really a big deal, in the grand scheme of things. Heck, Yuugi has some scars of his own, he’s pretty sure everyone does at their age. It’s just... interesting to see proof of the different sorts of lives they’ve had.
Sometimes when Jounouchi comes to the game shop to hang out after school he stays so long that Mom invites him to stay for dinner, and if the next day is a weekend a lot of the time then Grandpa invites him to just stay the night, to the point that Yuugi’s caught Jounouchi with a change of clothes and a toothbrush packed in his school bag. Jounouchi does the whole song and dance of trying to refuse to be polite, but he always says yes in the end.
(Yuugi’s caught Grandpa’s welcoming smile fall into something serious and knowing when Jounouchi turns away a couple of times. Yuugi’s never said a word about Jounouchi’s situation, and he’s positive none of the rest of his friends have either, but he can tell Grandpa suspects.)
Tonight is one such night, and Mom’s already laid out the guest futon in Yuugi’s room. Yuugi and Jounouchi are currently using it as a makeshift mat for a quick Duel Monsters game. Jounouchi’s been adamant about getting better at the game ever since the whole debacle with Kaiba, and while Yuugi still wins four times out of five Jounouchi’s managed to clutch a few victories with some luck-based strategies. He’s started trying to build a deck entirely based around gambling strategies, in fact, claiming he’s so lucky he’ll never lose. Yuugi... doesn’t think that’s correct, but he doesn’t know enough about probabilities to argue, and Jounouchi is incredibly lucky.
Jounouchi crows in delight and sets down a fresh Monster Card, wiping out Yuugi’s lone monster on the field and reducing his Life Points by 500. “Awright! I got this one in the bag!” he cheers, pumping his fist.
Yuugi would just set down the much stronger Monster Card he’s got waiting in his hand right now and prove him wrong, but his eyes catch on a fresh mark on side of Jounouchi’s hand in the process. “That’s new,” he mumbles without really thinking.
“Whazzat?”
Yuugi squeaks. Jounouchi has lowered his fist slightly and is now looking at him oddly. “Nothing, sorry!” he yelps, waving his hands around.
Jounouchi raises a single unimpressed eyebrow. “Yuug.”
Yuugi deflates. “I just... that looks new.” He gestures weakly at Jounouchi’s hand. “The cut on the side of your hand. Do you, um, need a bandage?”
“What, this?” Jounouchi flips his hand around so the pinky side’s facing Yuugi, giving him a proper look at the injury. It’s wide but shallow, still a little red. Fresh, but it likely won’t scar. “Nah, don’t worry about it, ‘s nothing. Some punk tried to pick a fight with me and I tried to block but guy was fast and he had this awful-lookin’ ring on that cut me open a bit.” He waves his hand around like it’s no big deal, which for Jounouchi is the truth.
Yuugi brightens a little. “Oh! Yeah, that’s happened to me, too!” It’s rare for him to have a similar experience as Jounouchi, so he’s a little excited, even if he knows deep down that it’s a really mundane thing that he shouldn’t really be getting excited over.
“Cut by a ring? Ouch.” Jounouchi sucks in a breath through his teeth.
“Yeah, right here.” Yuugi taps the spot where he’s seen the faint line in the mirror, right around where his right cheek meets his jaw. “It probably would’ve been better if I’d have been able to block it, haha....”
Jounouchi leans forward a little, squinting. “... Shit, you actually got a scar from it? Guy must’ve been real strong. Or wearing a really big ring.” His face darkens. “... You wouldn’t happen to know the guy, would ya? I don’t mind knocking him around for messin’ with my bud.”
“You don’t have to! It was –”
Yuugi freezes. He... may not have thought this through.
Jounouchi notices him tense up and goes still himself. “Yuug?”
Leaning away a bit, Yuugi does his best convincing laugh. “It was... no one,” he replies, injecting as much confidence into his voice as he can. “I, uh, didn’t even catch his name. Yup.”
Jounouchi’s expression, to Yuugi’s dismay, does not change in the slightest. “Yuugi,” he says flatly. “You’re my best pal. You got a lot a things goin’ for ya. Lying ain’t one of ‘em. You wanna try that one more time?”
He certainly can. “You, um, already kind of did knock him around?” he offers.
That deadpan stare still doesn’t shift. “Doesn’t really narrow it down, bud. And the fact you’re being so cagey about it means I know I’m not gonna like it, so c’mon, spit it out. Gimme a name.”
... Yeah, there’s no getting out of this one. Yuugi’s shoulders hunch. “It... might’ve been... um, Hirutani?”
Jounouchi’s fingers bunch on the futon as his mouth pulls in a snarl, exactly the way Yuugi knew would happen the second he realized just which landmine he’d accidentally stumbled on. His friend’s tumultuous past with Hirutani is still a touchy subject, so the rest of them tend to steer clear of bringing it up. Jounouchi had bragged about his victory after their second encounter with him, but that had died out pretty quickly and none of them wanted to test the waters. Leave it to Yuugi to bumble his way into doing it himself.
Yuugi flinches as fingers brush against his jaw. Jounouchi is leaning forward now, almost crushing the Duel Monsters cards under his knees as he tilts Yuugi’s head to get a better look. He looks downright murderous. “When?”
“Uh – wh-what?” Yuugi’s not having the easiest time concentrating when his friend is manhandling him like this, and he’s already flustered from his misstep, and he’s never really had anyone this close to his face before –
“When did it happen?” Jounouchi’s not looking him in the eye, at least, but the single-minded fixation on the tiny (really, it’s miniscule, it took him weeks to even notice it was there) scar is still kind of overwhelming.
Yuugi swallows. “It, um... the second time? Uh, the yo-yo time, not the – not the time you got caught, it was when I got caught and – b-but that’s all, they didn’t leave a scratch otherwise, and you got him!”
(At least, that’s how he understands it. It’s not like he remembers, but Jounouchi said he took down Hirutani and apparently Yuugi was there so he’s not going to question it, no sirree, he’s just going to pretend he doesn’t have all these gaping holes in his memory because this is the best his life’s ever been and he’s got friends now, real friends who hang out at his house and play games with him at school and care about his wellbeing and act like one measly little scar is worth fighting for him over so he’s not saying a word.)
Jounouchi doesn’t seem appeased. “Should’ve done more’n just knock him down,” he muttered. “Should’ve busted his face in. Would’ve done it if I’d known.”
His thumb brushes against the scar. Yuugi squeaks again despite himself. His face also may or may not be on fire. Jounouchi is way too close right now, is this normal? Is this something friends do? He’s never been so forward with Anzu, but Anzu’s a girl so maybe it’s just a guy thing? It’s not like he has a frame of reference for this!
Luckily, Jounouchi seems to snap back to himself and he jerks his hand back like he got scalded by Yuugi’s face. “Shit, sorry!” he yelps, his own cheeks dusting red. “Sorry, uh – got more heated than I thought, my bad.”
“I-It’s all right.” Yuugi presses a couple fingers to the scar. The heat in his face is flooding away, but there’s a warmth bubbling in his chest that’s replacing it. “It’s... nice that you care so much,” he admits with a smile. “I’m not... really used to that? From people who aren’t my family, or Anzu. So... thank you.” He watches as Jounouchi’s face flushes even darker and trips over himself to continue and spare his friend any further embarrassment. “But please don’t go after Hirutani again, he’s learned his lesson and honestly I think it’d hurt him more if we all just forgot about him.”
Jounouchi blinks, then snorts. The strange air in the room starts to seep away. “Damn, Yuug, cold-blooded. You’re right, though, forget him.” He sits back with an air of finality and only then looks down and sees the mess he’s made of the cards. “Crap! Uhh, hold on –” He starts shifting the cards around to their approximate places.
Yuugi stifles laughter and places down the Monster Card in his hand. “Don’t worry about it. I destroy your Monster and drop your Life Points to zero.”
Jounouchi stares at the card, groans, and slumps. “Damn it, I thought I had that.” He slams his hands on his cards and sweeps them towards him to shuffle. “One more! I swear I got you this time!”
“It’s getting pretty late,” Yuugi points out, amused.
“Is it?” Jounouchi takes a cursory glance at the clock by Yuugi’s bed. “... It’s fine, we got time for one more!” He glances down at the sleeves of his uniform and grimaces. “... Should get ready though. Gimme five to go get changed ‘n’ stuff, I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time!” Yuugi calls as Jounouchi hops up and darts from the room. He notices his friend idly tapping a spot on his chest near his heart and wonders what that’s about, but he’s sure it’s probably nothing. Jounouchi’s mostly an open book.
... With him momentarily out of the room, though, Yuugi’s mind is free to replay the past two minutes at hyper speed over and over in his head, and that just brings the heat flooding back to his cheeks at full force. He groans and drops his head in his hands, valiantly ignoring the phantom brush of skin against his cheek. “Don’t be weird, Yuugi,” he orders himself. “This is normal friend stuff. Do not make it weird.”
He swears there’s some part of himself that’s laughing at him right now. He summarily ignores it.