Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ An Argument with Kaiba Seto ❯ Contrivance 6 ( Chapter 6 )

An Argument With Kaiba Seto

By Shella

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Contrivance 6.

"Kami, give me strength."

No, Jounouchi was not praying for the power to squeeze himself into Kaiba's favourite pair of black pants (although that would be interesting, given that they were both too narrow and too long for him … stupid Kaiba). He was not appealing for the mental stamina to finish a difficult duel (nowadays his `duels' with Kaiba had much less to do with inked cards, and much more to do with physical ability … admittedly, the duelling arena in the CEO's house had been involved once, but it was probably traumatised now and so wasn't important). And he was not requesting the muscular force that would enable him to actually get the lid off the pickle jar (that was way too clichéd, and as if he'd be eating pickles, anyway … well, unless said pickle belonged to Kaiba, but that's another rating altogether).

No, Jounouchi was praying for the patience to not kill Kaiba Mokuba. That would be suicide once Kaiba Seto found out, and the blonde was determined not to die without having seen up Kujaku Mai's skirt.

"Nyah, nyah, can't catch me!"

"The hell I can't! C'mere!"

The little brat was currently waving a Polaroid that showed some rather questionable imagery - and we're not talking about the ones of Honda hugging a teddy bear on which he'd attached a wig of long red hair. The picture Mokuba had taken showed his brother reclining on the living room sofa, eyes closed and seemingly asleep, with a golden-haired teenage boy leaning over the back of the couch to plant a kiss on the brunette's forehead. Kaiba had slept through the click of the camera and the ensuing disorganisation (to put it mildly…) due to the fact that he'd got caught up in his work the previous night and not actually had time to get any sleep before school started. So the CEO was oblivious to Jounouchi's regrettable display of tenderness, and if Mokuba wasn't being such a [content edited for the protection of minors, although it's probably way too late now, but at least we tried] then all would be well.

But Mokuba was being a [content edited for the protection of minors … but, on the other hand, you gotta admit - if they've got this far, they're probably already fucked. Whatever. Screw `em.], and so Jounouchi was vainly trying to entice/coerce him into handing over the damning and damned Polaroid. So far success was elusive.

"Mokuba, c'mon! Give `em back!"

"Uh, let me think - no!"

"Kid, don't make this any more painful than it has to be!"

"Painful? For who? If you touch one hair on my head my brother'll pay you back, even if you are his boyfriend!" The childish, annoying tone Mokuba used reminded Jounouchi of the way he'd teased Yugi when he'd found out about the shorter teen's crush on Anzu, which was possibly why it pissed him off so much.

"Grr, that's it! Give it here!"

"Wahhh!"

Crash.

There was a pause. After a moment, there was another pause, but they were so similar it was difficult to tell where one ended and the other began.

"…Oops."

"Yeah, oops…"

Then, simultaneously:

"This is all YOUR fault!"

(Some remote, unconcerned corner of Jounouchi's mind was embarrassed that his thinking patterns and reactions paralleled those of a twelve-year-old boy, but seeing as that was the section concerning logic and reason, the rest of his mind did what it always did, and ignored it.)

Jounouchi looked at the wreckage of the dining room table, and sighed. He supposed, in retrospect, that trying to tackle Mokuba off the tabletop hadn't been such a good idea. Granted that everyone has 20/20 vision in hindsight, but this one was a bit more predictable than most. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and if Seto ever saw that picture Jounouchi would die of embarrassment. He wasn't supposed to actually care about Kaiba! Romance wasn't meant to be involved! That was breaking the unspoken agreement between them that they were only together (in a very loose sense of the word) for … well, not sex yet, but making out. But no-one could mistake the look on his face in that photo for anything other than what it was, and therefore the blonde teenager would try his damnedest to make sure it never fell into Seto's hands.

"…I've still got the picture, you know."

"Gahh!"

And they were off again, Mokuba giggling like a nutcase as he sped from the room with Jounouchi in tow. His black hair streamed out behind him, seemingly an invitation to be grabbed in itchy fingers and pulled, but Jounouchi would never fight dirty with a kid. He did have some pride, after all, even if he had a really big mouth that enabled him to swallow it easily, along with a foot or two.

Then there was a pillow in his face and a coffee table against his shins, and the blonde was sprawled on the floor, utterly bereft of both dignity and socks, as Mokuba disappeared around the corner trailing two cotton trophies.

Stuff honour and pride, that was foul!

"You little-! Get back here!"

Face burning, hair in his eyes, heart racing in his ears, Jounouchi scrambled to his feet and forced his legs - which seemed to be smarter than him, as they were refusing to go in pursuit of the black-haired demon - to move. He pounded down the hallway and around the corner he'd seen last seen Mokuba pass, and nearly crashed straight into both Kaiba brothers.

He had the split-second impression of Mokuba looking guilty and mouthing "I'm sorry" to him before he saw the photo in Seto's hand and the completely expressionless look on the brunette's face.

Shit.

Suddenly his feet were very cold, and it wasn't because Mokuba had stolen his socks. It was more to do with the absolute lack of any reaction or feeling whatsoever in the elder Kaiba's eyes as he stared at the picture. And stared. And stared. And kept staring. So much for a dramatic pause to build the tension, this was a dramatic eternity, and was kind of spoiling the moment. You can only hold your breath for so long before you turn blue and die, after all. Jounouchi had learnt this while dunking Honda at the pool when they were twelve and the brunette had just dacked him in front of the girls in bikinis. He'd gotten him back though, both by nearly drowning him and by accusing him, in a very loud voice, of checking out the other guys while they were in the showers.

Heh. Funny that a few years later, Jounouchi would be the one checking out other guys. Well, guy, anyway.

Speak of the devil…

Kaiba had finally looked up from the photograph, but his face was still closed like a steel trap. He caught Jounouchi in that shuttered gaze and moved. The blonde flinched, but Kaiba only grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down the hall to his room. The force with which he shut the door behind them, however, was far from reassuring.

He turned again, his ever-present trench coat flaring behind him in its gravity-defiant spans, and the powerful, completely illogical corner of Jounouchi's mind suggested that the real reason for the dramatic angles in Kaiba's coat was that Mexican food didn't agree with him too well. He caught and strangled that thought before he could start sniggering, which would probably result in him being even more dead than otherwise.

"What," said Kaiba, "is this?" He indicated the Polaroid.

"Inked paper," replied Jounouchi, ever-so-intelligently, and received a cushion in the face. He tried again. "I mean, nothing?"

Emotion finally made its way past the iron barrier of Kaiba's eyes, in the form of an irritated flash of lapus lazuli. Not that Jounouchi would ever be poetic enough to compare Kaiba's eyes to jewels, of course not. That was for people who were, like, in love and stuff. And Jounouchi was definitely not in love. He wasn't even in advanced like. He was barely in lust! …But that was definitely lapus lazuli.

"It doesn't look like nothing to me," he said, voice low and dangerous.

The tiny, logical part of Jounouchi's mind `eep'ed and ran away, along with most of the rest of his brain. Not that it'd make a difference to how he acted or anything.

"I was possessed!" he attempted. Kaiba gave him a Look. "No? Um … insane! Temporary insanity!" The Looks on Kaiba's face weren't getting any better. "You had chocolate on your forehead!" he offered. "Caramel! Maple syrup!" Damnit, he's not buying it! "Aliens were controlling my mind with their laser beam … ray gun … thingies…" Jounouchi swallowed. The other teen didn't look angry anymore - he was asking for the truth, and suddenly Jounouchi found that his flippant comments and jokes had deserted him. Miserably, he acquiesced. "…I like you."

And then Kaiba was kissing him, and it was better than chocolate or caramel or maple syrup, and the incriminating photo was floating lazily to the floor, and everything was happy sighs and wet tongues.

When they pulled apart, Jounouchi couldn't keep a really stupid grin off his face. "I guess maybe it's not so bad that Mokuba took that picture after all?"

"I suppose," Kaiba agreed, nuzzling under his jaw. "But just so you know, I really don't need to be thinking about my little brother when your hands are down my pants."

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