Chapter One: High school is just Hell is Disguise

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It was the first day of the new term and to say that Jou was less than enthusiastic was the understatement of the fucking year. He managed to haul himself out of the apartment, after shrugging into a reasonably clean pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt, without waking up his father from one of his frequent drunken stupors and trudged for the bus stop.

He road the bus to school everyday without fail and usually walked as slowly as possible from the bus stop, somehow managing to be late every single day.

It was an art really.

Honda showed sometimes but usually preferred to ride his bike. And, of course, sometimes Bakura just didn't show up. Jou kind of envied the freedom he had over his life. When he didn't want to do something he just didn't do it and when he wanted something he just…took it. Bakura was truly his own man.

Jou wasn't so lucky.

He got off of the bus and fought back a yawn. Mondays. He'd always hated Mondays, even when they didn't precede months of torture. See, Jou hated school with a passion that most people couldn't really understand. It was, after all, just school. It couldn't be all that bad.

And yet it was. He was sick of being told he was stupid and would never achieve anything, tired of the headaches and the humiliation his teachers chose to inflict upon him. As far as he was concerned it was just eight hours of being reminded of what a screw up he was and if he wanted to be told that he could just stay home and wait for his father to wake up.

The man was always more than happy to let Jou know how worthless he was and how he wished he'd never been born. It could have been worse because at the least the man never tried to raise a hand to him, but sometimes his words cut deeper than actual fists ever could.

"Hey Ryou!" Yugi came bouncing out of the game shop that Jou shuffled past everyday, with his usual enthusiasm.

He ran down a boy with silvery-white hair that Jou know as Bakura Ryou. Oddly enough the teen closely resembled Jou's friend Takishi Bakura but the one time he'd tried to ask the other teen if they were related he'd been promptly smacked in the head. From what Jou heard Ryou and Yugi were best friends, though Yugi seemed too…high strung from the infamously quiet and reserved albino.

How Yugi managed it every single day without fail was beyond Jou. Sometimes he wondered if Yugi ran on batteries that somehow recharged every night. The blond was sure that if he tried to be that cheerful for a long time he'd go completely out of his mind and crash, sooner rather than later.

Jou and Yugi Mouto were far from friends of course. Yugi was part of the 'Shiny Happy Sheep Clan' and Jou was more of a 'Stone/Goth/Punk Loser' Not that he was all of those things, but that was how he was classified. He blamed the abolishment of uniforms. Once upon a time it was impossible to label someone by how much black they wore but Domino Schools had gotten some wacky new superintendent who thought that individuality should be encouraged.

So Jou had been forced to wear his 'everyday' clothing to school and almost instantly the labels had started flying. He'd just been a little weird before, but now he was a total social outcast.

He hadn't really gotten it until one day he'd heard Anzu, the official school bitch and all around slut, talking to a bunch of girls about him. He hadn't gotten everything, but the basic gist was that he always wore black so he had to be one of those depressed types, and that they had heard he was poor and lived on the 'other' side of town, and like-oh-my-gosh had they noticed he seemed to always wear the same three pairs of jeans.

Gawd did he even shower?

He let out a puff of air and put some serious thought into just turning around and leaving. Then a hand clapped onto his shoulder. He nearly jumped out of his skin at the soft chuckle that reached his ears. He looked up and a violet eye winked at him.

"And how is my favorite student today Jou?"

"Fine Mr. Magi."

Derek Magi was the only, and Jou meant only decent teacher he'd ever come across. He was young, in his mid-twenties, and English. Not to mention fucking gorgeous but Jou preferred to keep that to himself least he offend one of the few people who were weird enough to enjoy his company. Derek was tall, a little bit taller than Jou was, with dark purple hair down to his shoulders and contrasted with is pale skin. His eyes were almost the same color as his hair and he usually wore a pair of darkly tinted round-framed glasses. He had a very laid back way of teaching and acting, as if he was more of a friend than a 'power figure to rebel again'.

He had his usual 'casual' thing working for him, with black slacks, a pale purple shirt (1), and a black tie.

"Glad to hear it." The man smiled. "I've got quite the project planned for this semester."

"Mmm." Mr. Magi was legendary for his history projects and the field trips that always seemed to accompany them. The last one had been a research project on the colonization of the world and had involved a trip to a ship yard that specialized in building 'classic' ships, to the local history museum, and a lecture from someone who re-created old maps.

Without a doubt better than listening to a teacher drone on and on about stuff Jou didn't, couldn't, and wouldn't try to understand even if he was able. He had somehow managed to be second in class ranks, behind Kaiba Seto. Sadly he was at the bottom of the barrel in the rest of his courses, so it hardly mattered how well he happened to do in one of them.

"You know Katsuya, if you need help with anything I'm around."

Jou blinked slowly, both at the use of his actual name and the seemingly strange offer. "I'm going great in yer class."

"I know." Mr. Magi laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "I know that. It's just…you aren't doing as well in the rest of your classes, as I understand it and I'd be willing to help out. I'd hate to see someone as bright as you fail, understand?"

"Thanks." He wasn't really sure what he thought of that. "I'll consider it."

"Good." Mr. Magi shoved him playfully. "I'll even help you in Maths if you so require it." Jou laughed as he was supposed to do. It was a very poorly kept secret that Mr. Magi had failed Maths all throughout his school career.

Truthfully Jou wasn't really amused by the joke, but he didn't want to let that show. No sense in calling more unwanted attention to himself by not acting properly. Magi bid him farewell, having to get ready for his first class, and vanished inside of the school building. Jou watched him go then sighed and plopped down on the stairs to wait for Honda.

Unfortunately he found that his usual peaceful wait was doomed to be interrupted. A black car, sleek and expensive looking, came to a stop in front of him. He bit back a groan, knowing full well what was about to occur and who was about to walk out. He was tempted to run off but wasn't willing to let anyone see him acting like a coward.

The door open and out stepped Kaiba Seto and Yami Atemu, two of Jou's fellow seniors and all around useless assholes. Safe to say that Jou didn't like them much. Well…okay, he didn't like Seto and by extension he didn't like Atemu, because he had the bad judgment of being Seto's best friend and cousin. Not that he could help the cousin thing, but blood didn't mean you have to like a person.

Did it?

Kaiba was about five centimeters taller than he was and was always dressed to impress; pressed shirts, slacks that Jou couldn't afford to breathe on, and shoes that were probably shined by his butler. (Because, of course, Kaiba was filthy rich, but weren't they always?) His hair was a dark reddish-brown color and styled in a way that seemed mildly dorky in Jou's opinion, like a few steps away from being a mullet or something, and eyes that were such a dark blue they were almost black. And when he was angry (and you could tell he was angry because his nostrils flared and this vein in his forehead throbbed. Not that Jou ever noticed that sort of thing…) was the only time that insufferable smirk left his lips.

Yami was shorted than Jou, but well bit. He dressed nicely as well, tending towards darkly colored clothing that was nonetheless expensive. He did have this strangely worn denim jacket that he always wore that made Jou sometimes think he may just be human under all of that spit and polish. His hair was weird, with three colored mixed in there, and fell in waves to just below his ear. It could have been worse of course; he could have had that weird spiked style that Mouto wore.

"Hello Mutt. Waiting for your master?" Kaiba drawled. His white trench coat, one in a collection of thousands if Jou had to guess, billowed in a way that may have been intimidating if Jou didn't think he was such an assclown. Instead Jou just kind of wondered if Kaiba wasted some of his seemingly limitless fortune on some kind of special machine or material that created the billowing effect.

"Yes, Moneybags I suppose I am." He returned mildly.

Yep, he hated Kaiba. Hated the smug way he smiled, hated the money he flaunted, hated the fact he was captain of almost every sport team (and what he wasn't captain of his was) hated the fact he acted like he owned the fucking school and people like Jou were so completely beneath him. And most of all he hated the fact that Kaiba had been the one to start the rumors about him and Honda. Not that he gave a shit but Honda was never going to get laid if people thought they were together.

Jou didn't care because sex had never been high on his list of priorities. He had things to worry about like making sure his father didn't beat him half to death and putting food on the table.

Jou almost laughed. Kaiba thought he was so big and tough but in reality he wouldn't last five minutes in Jou's neighborhood…hell, five minutes in Jou's home would destroy him. He didn't realize he was smirking until he saw the way Kaiba was scowling at him like he wanted to knock the shit out of him.

And it was, of course, possible that he may do just that. While they usually remained at the taunting and insulting level they had on occasion come to blows. Some of the more amusing moments of Jou's high school career, that much was for sure.

Besides, it was a nice change of pace to be able to fight someone back.

Yami grabbed his cousin by the arm and rolled his eyes. "Com'n Set. He isn't worth the trouble. You'll just get your jacket dirty."

And times like that he was sure that there was nothing but emptiness under the spit and polish and maybe it was better that way. He'd hate to think as actual person was straining to get out of that shell of Yami's. That was almost…too cruel for words.

Jou made a gesture that could be interpreted as rude in most countries before reaching into his backpack for his CD player. Meh. Fuck them anyway. He put his headphones on, dismissing their presence. Noting pissed Kaiba off more than being ignored and Jou knew that this was the one surefire way to lead to a fight. Maybe he was just in the mood for pointless violence.

He saw Kaiba moving from the corner of his eye as if to hit him but rather abruptly someone was in front of Jou and obstructing his view.

Damn it.

Judging by the two sets of legs, one clad in ripped black jean and the other in black leather, Bakura and Honda had come rushing to his rescue. Or whatever it was they thought they were doing. He sighed and pushed the headphones back off. Hadn't even gotten a chance to turn the damn thing on.

"Haven't I already told you that this obsession with Katsuya has got to stop?" Bakura said while waggling a finger condescendingly.

"It's just not normal to provoke someone so much. It's worse than pulling pigtails." Honda added with a light smirk. Jou wrinkled his nose.

"Eww. Guys, dat's gross."

Kaiba glowered at the two of them but, true to form, backed off. Bakura and Honda had a bit of a reputation for putting people into the hospital, Bakura more so than Honda. The brunette didn't fight without a good reason where as Bakura was always up for violence, chaos, mayhem, and blood.

Plus he had a switchblade in his back pocket that security was afraid to take from him. And he was rumored to have killed his parents but Jou was pretty sure that was just exaggeration.

"You're lucky your master came to save you again Mutt." Seto muttered before allowing his cousin to pull him into school.

Jou shrugged then draped himself over Honda and batted his eyes flirtatiously while grabbing at his shirt. (A well worn Nickleback tee that may have once been black, but was now more gray than anything. It boasted, proudly, 'I survived Beer O'clock. It was one of Jou's favorites because it was comfortable and smelled of pine, cinnamon, and oil; pure Honda)

"Well ya head da man oh-master-mine. I waited for ya like a good boy. Do I get a treat?"

Honda laughed and, with a wide smirk, swatted him on the ass. "Maybe later."

"Sounds fun." Bakura said. "Am I invited?"

"You realize of course this is what all the rumors are about?"

The last little member of their merry band, if you could call them that, was Noa Kaiba and Jou's proof that being related to a jackass didn't automatically make you one. Noa and Jou had met the year before at their mutual workplace. At first he'd been shocked that a guy like Noa needed to work but apparently the green-haired didn't want to live off of his father's fortune. He and Seto were twins (2)but couldn't have been more different.

Case in point Noa was currently sitting in his four year old two-door Neon, (Luckily this was the 'Kaiba' parking spot) that Honda was constantly fixing up, and by the looks of things was wearing holey blue jeans, a long sleeved pink shirt, and a black shirt on top of it. Jou peered in for a closer look and saw that the shirt had a picture of Legolas in pink tint. (3)

"I realize nothing of the sort." Honda said while stroking the hood of Noa's car lovingly. Jou sighed. He loved that damn machine more than anything else. He claimed it was his baby. "I do, however, recall having a girlfriend until your brother got it in his head to start telling people Jou and I are fuckbuddies."

"Girlfriend." Noa shivered. Honda arched an eyebrow, though they had done this many many times before. Jou decided it was only right he chimed in.

"Girl parts. Sick." They chorused, enjoying the exasperated look on Honda's face.

"You two are such…" The brunette trailed off and looked at Bakura for help. The white-haired teen had been looking at his nails intently. Jou noted that the blood colored paint was chipping away.

"Fags."

"Yes, fags, thanks."

"And you're greedy." Noa said cheerfully. He turned off his car and, after grabbing his bag from the back and making sure all of the windows were up, hopped out.

"Just because I happen to enjoy the things that both the male and female form have to offer, doesn't make me greedy." Honda sniffed then smirked wryly. "It makes you stupid. Right Bakura?"

Bakura was silent for a long moment then brushed an imaginary speck of dust from his black wife beater. "Asexual." With that he turned and stalked towards the building. Jou sighed.

"That's 'is fucking answer for everythang." Honda muttered as they walked after their friend.

"Can people even be asexual?" (4) Noa mused out loud.

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1- As a general rule I believe only Lex Luthor circa Smallville can carry off purple shirts, but maybe Derek can manage it.

2- It should be clear by now that I'm taking artistic license, right?

3- Outfit was blatantly ripped from my friend Ian. Gotta love the glam boys…

4- I often wonder that. I mean I know it technically means to reproduce on ones own, but if you aren't attracted to anything on two or four legs then what the hell are you? Other than weird I mean.