yugioh is my favorite sports anime

And Mokuba is like whatever, fine, as long as someone’s there to keep his brother company who isn’t just a nurse. He agrees to pay Jonouchi, too. So Jonouchi starts showing up every day after school to sit with this version of Kaiba that doesn’t move and doesn’t talk. And it’s weird, because of course it is; but if anyone can keep up a conversation by themselves, it’s Jonouchi.

So Jonouchi spends a whole month talking to Kaiba about anything and everything. And the more he comes by, the more alert Kaiba seems to get when he’s there; at least, he follows Jonouchi with his eyes, and that counts for something. Sometimes they “play” games, even if it’s really just Jonouchi playing against himself. Kaiba’s swallow instinct is still intact so they’ve been able to keep him off a feeding tube on a soft foods diet; sometimes Jonouchi helps him eat. Jonouchi can’t help but start to see him as a whole person, to almost feel like they have a rapport. Like they could be friends.

Nobody but Yugi knows about this job of his, though; it felt wrong, somehow, telling anyone else. One day he’s walking to school with Honda, and in a moment of 90s-typical-teenage-boy-ableism, Honda calls Kaiba a vegetable, and Jonouchi just totally blows his lid about it. And Honda is like woah, dude, what the hell? He’s just some rich asshole who hurt Yugi’s grandpa. And Jonouchi doesn’t really have an answer.

He’s not there when Kaiba comes out of whatever state he was in. And just like that, Jonouchi doesn’t ever go back, because there’s no reason to. It was just a job.

From there the events of canon proceed as normal, just with the added layer of Jonouchi having seen Kaiba at his lowest, having sat and talked to him almost every day for a whole month. And the worst part is he’s not even sure if Kaiba’s remembers that he was ever there, or was ever even truly that aware. He assumes Kaiba probably doesn’t know. Kaiba is walking around belittling him during Duelist Kingdom and all Jonouchi can think is I wiped your drool off your face for you, I was sitting with you even when the nurse would come to change your catheter bag, and you’re still talking to me this way just because you can.

He doesn’t want to publicly throw any of that back in Kaiba’s face, though, because it’d be cruel and it’d just be wrong. And also ofc Mokuba keeps shooting him dirty looks, lol. He clearly doesn’t want Jonouchi to say anything about it. Yugi is stressed out about it but also feels bad about potentially saying anything (I have a feeling Yami might not have any such qualms, though….)

And it’s extra good if all along Kaiba does remember Jonouchi being there, but he’s kind of horrified by it and ashamed, especially because Jonouchi was genuinely a calming and grounding presence. And if anything, he can’t help but needle Jonouchi constantly bc he almost wants to see if he’ll crack and say something. He keeps waiting for Jonouchi to prove him right. It feels like the only control he has in the whole situation.