Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Undeniable
Author: Fenikkusu Ai
Theme(s): #27, I hate to love… (Alone in the Rain)
Pairing: Ryo Marufuji x Edo Phoenix
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: Nothing of YGO GX belongs to me.
Summary: Takes place post Season 2.

It was getting both cold and ridiculous waiting in the drenching freezing rain like a puppy chained to a leash. Like a cosmic joke, Fate would always find someway and somehow to stick him in its stream of unending water. Glaring up at the building in front of him; Edo absent-mindedly twirled the handle of the umbrella between his fingers.

Uselessly, he checked his watch. 10:47. Seventeen minutes late. You would expect this type of behavior from a woman, not from a man.

Damn, why did I tell the driver to go on ahead without me?

Because he thought Ryo was more mature than this. Because he thought Ryo was more put together than this. Prompt. On time. Just like for his duels. In fact, every time he tried to stick a label on Ryo; it always blew back to hit him in the face—much like this rain. The more Edo expected him to act one way, the more Ryo would act the opposite. It had taken him a short while to realize this: Ryo was simply unpredictable. Graduating at the top of his class as a squeaky-clean student with no criminal record whatsoever and then participating in and then winning in underground duels was proof of that. It was a lot like life. If life had gone the way he had imagined at five years old, he'd most likely be a carefree teenager attending some high school in America with a burning desire to take a major in art after he graduated. He never would have even met Ryo, and he definitely would not be standing here choking on the damp, misty, smog-ridden air. Or…maybe fate would have taken the same turn and he would still be here waiting outside this same hotel on the same street in the same city in Japan.

Yeah.

Yeah right.

His father would have given him a good life, but truth be told, DD had given him a better one. If one judged life on achievements, fame, and money instead of that pesky emotion known as "love."

See what you've done, Ryo? You've made me think about him of all people...

Edo wasn't used to waiting for someone, not even for his own manager. Even Saiou had better sense and arrived on time—sometimes before time—and the two would merrily set off to their shared destination together with no qualms between them whatsoever. Ryo, on the other hand, required maintenance. A lot of it apparently when he was running eighteen minutes late.

Edo ground his teeth together in pure frustration. He was now officially upgrading from annoyed to angry.

He knew he should admit defeat and wait in the nice heated lobby inside. But, no. Edo stubbornly wanted to make a point now and make Hell Kaiser see with his own two eyes how he was making him wait in the cold wet rain. Ryo was still a novice when it came to the sheer power of stubbornness, especially his own stubbornness.

Then, from out of nowhere, an arrow of cold fear penetrated his heart. He nearly whimpered when he thought a very traitorous thought.

Maybe he canceled. Maybe he doesn't want to see me anymore.

Edo fought the urge to slap himself.

Wake up, little boy. He's not even in love with you. And, you don't love him either.

Or…do you?

Suddenly, he felt quite foolish. Waiting in the rain with an umbrella was so sentimental—too sentimental for a risqué relationship like this. He knew from personal experience on that gray day in the graveyard that changed his life forever.

So, why did he care?

The rain taunted him with its gushing downpour crashing on the sidewalk below when lo and behold the man of the evening stepped out. A smirk graced his lips as he stalked cat-like towards him.

Edo countered with his own mangled interpretation of a smile. "Did you manage to find the door, Ryo?"

"Getting wet, Phoenix?"

There. That was normal. A mutual relationship built on hate, lies, grudging respect, and occasional lust and hormones. None of that love stuff, thank you very much.

As they both trudged forward together in the direction of the theater, Edo couldn't help but throw one hate-filled glare at the teal-haired teenager in front of him for almost making him admit the unadmittable.

Even in his own mind.