Serpent's Vow

9: Survivor's Guilt

The conference was at its height and Jounouchi sat at one of the  tables near the poster exhibit hall. Honestly, he was only here for  moral support for Yugi and the free food. Oh, and to keep a sharp eye on  Honda who was still beating himself up over the whole Seth cult thing.  Granted, it had only been two days since they escaped that hell hole.

He  glanced to the side and groaned when he saw his oldest friend staring  listlessly at his small, paper cup of coffee. He nudged Honda's shoulder  hard enough to make the brown haired boy grab the table to keep from  sprawling across the floor.

"Wha- Joey! What was that for?" he cried, flustered.

"To  keep you from drifting off to Lala Land," Jounouchi chirped easily,  taking a long sip of his coke. He was exhausted and annoyed from having  to leave the convention earlier to go change his shirt after the first  coke can had exploded all over him. Setting the new can on the table, he  flashed his friend a brilliant view of his pearly whites. "Besides, if I  gotta suffer through this overgrown science fair, then so do you."

The  corners of Honda's lips twitched up and his dark brown eyes softened,  but Jounouchi could still see the lingering signs of mental exhaustion  in his friend's face. Jounouchi didn't blame him one bit. After Duelist  Kingdom, they had all stuck super close to each other. Much closer than  they had before. Leaving Anzu behind in Japan while the Yugi, Jounouchi,  and Honda came to Seattle for the International Convention of  Technology and Gaming was unpleasant for their whole gang.

"You know, this isn't just a science fair," Honda said, regaining some of his confidence.

"Yeah,"  Jounouchi drawled, leaning back far enough in his chair that his head  hung over the back and he could see the poster exhibit upside down. "But  the actual gaming part doesn't start until five."

"It's already  started, you dork," Honda said, laughing at his friend's antics. "I  heard they had enough people to fill the whole Ballroom. The big one."

"Still?"  Jounouchi said, lifting his head enough to stare at Honda in disbelief.  "I woulda thought most of those guys either dropped out or lost by  now."

Honda shrugged. "I know the room was full the first day.  It's probably only half full now. But that's only the duelists. You know  there're people watching some of those duels. Now that we're getting  into the semifinals, the games should be good."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Jounouchi said, letting his head drop back casually.

Man,  if the ceiling really was the floor, that would be so awesome. Heck,  Yugi could stand on the roof-floor with the power of his hair alone. He  snickered to himself. He could just imagine Yami in all his spiky-haired  glory stalking up to a KaibaCorp Duel Arena on his head, his hair  spikes acting as his feet. He couldn't take it and just busted out  laughing.

From his spot by his poster, Yugi glanced over at the  table where Jounouchi and Honda were sitting. Jounouchi managed a weak  wave before clutching his belly and collapsing back in fits of laughter  again.

"You know you're being obnoxious, right?"

Amusement.  Gone. Jounouchi frowned at the midget killjoy and huffed. "For your  information," he said, waving a finger in Mokuba's face, "I happen to  have a fabulous sense of humor. Just because you don't understand,  doesn't mean I'm being obnoxious. It just means your sense of humor is  subpar."

Honda choked on his coffee and began coughing and  laughing in both delight and embarrassment. Mokuba, however, was not  amused. The young boy huffed, crossed his arms over his white suit, and  gave Jounouchi his best Big-Brother-Kaiba glare. Points to the kid. It  was a pretty good glare. Kaiba's was just better.