Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ An Argument with Kaiba Seto ❯ Contrivance 7 ( Chapter 7 )

An Argument With Kaiba Seto

By Shella

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Contrivance 7.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing in the trees, and Jounouchi had a faceful of car exhaust.

"Ack!" The blonde teenager screeched to a halt, choking and coughing. "Thanks a lot!" he yelled after the departing bus. "What's your problem, huh? Idiot!" (When confronting inanimate objects, Jounouchi reasoned that empty defiance was an entirely justifiable course of action.)

"Yeah, that's right - you just better get outta here!" Scowling furiously, he shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away before the bus driver could see him making rude signs at the tail lights.

Well, no school excursion for him. Not that Jounouchi minded having a legitimate excuse for missing out on something related to education, but chasing after a zoo on wheels and getting assaulted with poisonous gases wasn't exactly on his list of preferred ways to spend the time. And he'd already nearly given himself a heart attack by waking up late and having to rush right off his feet to get to school in time, and he didn't like seeing all that effort wasted.

"Hey! Jounouchi!"

He turned back around at the sound of his name, and saw that the bus had stopped and Honda was hanging out the open door, gesturing to him.

Well, whaddya know. Maybe miracles did happen, after all. Although if there really were angels on this planet, Jounouchi devoutly hoped they were rather better looking than Honda.

"C'mon, we're already late without you holding us up any more!"

Breathing a quiet sigh of relief that the bus had stopped merely to allow him aboard, and not to exact revenge for the insults and challenges he'd inflicted on it, Jounouchi jogged over to it. The teacher was frowning mightily as he got on and looking at her watch pointedly, in what was transparently an attempt to appear formidable. Being roughly Yugi's height and a mousy brunette with a personality to match her appearance, she failed dismally, and Jounouchi had to suppress a grin as he apologised and slid past her in a semblance of repentance.

"Hurry up and get your arse on a seat so we can get going!" called Otogi, and Jounouchi growled threateningly.

"You just wait `til I get up there, you spiky-haired freak…" he warned.

"Hey!"

"Oops! Sorry, Yug'! No offence!" Once again, Jounouchi had to appear contrite. This time, he was helped by the fact that the bus driver floored it, sending him sprawling down the aisle on his face. Nearly everyone burst out laughing, except for Yugi and Anzu. However, their reasons differed.

"Jounouchi-kun! Are you okay?" asked Yugi worriedly.

"Serves you right for insulting Yugi's hair!" Anzu shot at him.

"Hey!" Jounouchi objected, rubbing his head and clambering to his feet. "What gives? What happened to all that `supporting your friends' crap, Anzu?" He glared at her as he stood, swaying with the movement of the bus and holding onto the seats on either side of him.

She shrugged. "Selective interpretation. You made fun of Yugi, which was not supportive of your friends, therefore I was absolved of the responsibility of supporting you when you fell on your face. This friendship stuff is actually pretty flexible." She nodded as if endorsing a line of skincare.

There were a million different things Jounouchi wanted to say to that, mostly variations on `What the hell?' and other such witty and intellectual rebuttals. Unfortunately, they all seemed to get into a traffic jam on their way to his mouth, so he was left pout/scowling (also known as Powling â"¢, and copyright Yugi Motou Adorableness, Ltd.) in a way he knew was mortally embarrassing. This just wasn't his day.

And to top it off, the back seat was already full, having been taken over by Yugi, Anzu, Honda, Otogi and Ryou. The row before it was also fully occupied. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And the row before that. And now that the author has demonstrated her ability to severely over-exaggerate (a redundant term if ever there was one) using the copy and paste shortcuts, Jounouchi had to do something about it.

"Hey! What about saving a seat for me, huh?"

"Should've gotten to school on time," said Honda blandly.

Ryou, at least, tried to be apologetic. "Sorry, Jounouchi, but it was really crowded and there was nowhere else to sit…" He trailed off, looking unconvinced of his own sincerity, which naturally meant he didn't have a hope of persuading Jounouchi.

The blonde glared at the five in the back seat indiscriminately. (Of course, he didn't know he was glaring indiscriminately, as he knew very few words containing six syllables and those only when he was drunk, but that is not only beside the point, it is several blocks away from the point, getting stoned and making a fool of itself. But, scintillating a subject as it is, the dodgy nature of Jounouchi Katsuya's vocabulary is irrelevant.) His glare was met with looks varying from guilt to smug, and all you lovely viewers - uh, readers - get ten guesses as to who sprang to Jounouchi-kun's defence.

"Guys," Yugi began, in his moral/loyalty mode usually reserved for his `heart of the cards' speeches. This earned him groans and rolled eyes from the more cynical of his friends, in response to which he pouted briefly. However, he pushed his own injured feelings aside in the face of the greater cause of finding Jounouchi a seat. "We should squish up a bit, I'm sure we can make room for Jounouchi to fit."

"Yeah, it's not like he's got any bulk to him," Otogi agreed innocuously. Yugi beamed for a moment, then realised that his best friend was, once again, being teased. (D'oh!) He had barely opened his mouth to defend once again, however, when Ryou, normally so meek and unprovocative, suggested innocently, "Well, why doesn't Anzu sit on Yugi's lap?"

It was difficult to say who went redder more quickly, the brunette or the spiky-haired kid. Amidst the resultant guffaws, Honda mimed timing them with a stopwatch, earning a raucous laugh from both Otogi and Jounouchi, and Ryou gave a cheeky grin that disclaimed any possibility of him having been momentarily possessed by the spirit of his Ring. He accepted the high-fives and acclamations for his idea with appropriate humility, although if one listened closely enough they could hear a quiet, "I'd like to thank the Academy…"

Unfortunately for Jounouchi, when the furore died down neither Anzu nor Yugi was particularly receptive to the idea of her sitting on his lap as a means of making space, so that left just one option - for Jounouchi to sit on all of their laps.

"Ahh, that's comfy…"

[Insert squawks and complaints from those whose knees Jounouchi has draped himself across here]

For the second time in as many minutes, Jounouchi found himself on the floor, although this time with less laughter and more scowls directed at him from his friends.

"Hey!" he whined. "I was comfy there!"

Again, unfortunately for Jounouchi, the others disagreed.

For the rest of the bus trip, Yugi sat on Jounouchi's knee, both their faces red due to Yugi looking like a little kid but secretly more comfortable than they'd care to admit. There were some advantages to being four foot nothing, after all (aside from the ones about being able to look up Kujaku Mai's skirt).

Once at the museum and having heard and ignored the complaints about travelling an hour and a half to look at old relics when their school librarian was more ancient than anything here, the teacher handed around a sheet of questions for the students to answer and dismissed them to their own devices. This was probably not a wise decision, but it was a lovely day and there was a rather attractive young security guard to attend to. She gave them an injunction to behave themselves, using promises of chocolate and threats of cleaning the staff toilets, and went off to flirt. Not surprisingly, Tomioka-san wasn't all that unpopular among the teenagers in her class - at least, those with boyfriends or girlfriends.

"Where'd Anzu and Yugi disappear to?" Ryou wondered out loud. There was a moment's silence, then an expression of shock came over his face and he blushed furiously. Ahh, the joys of having a perverted tomb robber sharing your mind…

"Forget that," said Honda, "what's Kaiba doing here?"

Jounouchi almost snapped his neck following the line of Honda's pointed finger. Sure enough, there was the trench-coated brunette, stalking towards Tomioka-san and her victim with an expression of distaste at the teacher's blatant flirting.

"Hm. Who cares?" said Jounouchi dismissively, but already a plot was hatching in his mind. Leaving Honda, Otogi and Ryou to talk amongst themselves, he stalked off. In a stunning display of his usual complete lack of guile and finesse, Jounouchi's path took him more or less directly past Kaiba, and he gave the other teenager a `follow me' look that was about as subtle as a piano dropped from a third floor window onto a box full of nitro-glycerine.

He chose to ignore the `you've got to be kidding me, is that the best you can do?' look on Kaiba's face, partly because it would be immature to stoop to his level, but mostly because he couldn't think of a response.

Jounouchi lurked beside a replica of a tenth-century samurai costume for a couple of minutes before he spotted Kaiba approaching. Again, with the level of discretion usually exhibited by a bull in a china shop, or a teenage girl in the post-Christmas sales, he began moving again, this time headed for a more secluded area. (Although, considering he ended up in the stairwell, one with just a tad less prestige.)

"Very subtle," Kaiba said in his ear, making Jounouchi jump. "…Subtle like a brick, that is."

Jounouchi almost smiled - almost. "Oh, and I s'pose you're just the most graceful person who ever lived?" He found it incredibly funny when Kaiba got angry, and thence made it his mission to piss the other boy off. These arguments with Kaiba still infuriated him to no end, but as they discovered that there was something between them other than rivalry and lust, they became - Kami preserve us - fun. And the idea of Jounouchi Katsuya and Kaiba Seto having fun together (all perverted meanings aside) and actually enjoying each other's company was inclined to make one look at the sky and expect to see flying pigs. It was about as likely as Yugi shaving his head bald or Anzu becoming Goth.

"Compared to you, yeah, I am."

*Damn that smirk! I'm s'posed to be arguing with him, not gawking at him!* "Compared to me," Jounouchi said, "you're a dork."

A dangerous light flashed in Kaiba's eyes at the taunt, and a second later Jounouchi found himself pinned against the wall with the other teenager's body holding his own in place.

"I could knock you unconscious right now," said Kaiba, "and you'd be helpless to resist."

Well, considering Kaiba's knee was between his knees and his hand was under his chin, there was only one response to that challenge.

"Mmph!"

Once again, any attempts by Kaiba at speech were fruitless, as Jounouchi was attempting to steal his tongue. Not that said Kaiba apparently minded overmuch. The fact that he was defending the attempted theft of his tongue by doing the same (remembering that sometimes the best defence is a good offence, or a great snog) put to rest any possibility that he was less than assenting.

Several long moments later, they paused to breathe, and Jounouchi's fingers finally deigned to inform him that they were tangled in Kaiba's hair. It was a sorry state of affairs when your own body declared independence of conscious thought.

"I just kissed you," said Jounouchi, not bothering to suppress his smug smirk (since the same expression on Kaiba's face seriously pissed him off, so there was a possibility it would have the same effect on him - and, as has previously been established, an angry Kaiba was a source of amusement). "And you were helpless to resist."

Not many people knew that Jounouchi found it a turn-on to have someone lick his ear, but Kaiba had discovered it recently and was still entertained by its effectiveness. On principle, Jounouchi disliked having this weak spot exploited, but most of the time when it said exploitation was occurring he was … distracted. Like now, when his eyes were closed and his head tilted back, his breathing quickening and a flush spreading across his face. Who needed pride when you had someone willing to get you hard just by sticking his tongue in your ear?

"But did I want to resist?" Kaiba breathed, and grazed Jounouchi's earlobe with his teeth.

It was about then that Jounouchi melted into a happy gooey little puppy puddle, and once again embarrassed himself in front of Kaiba Seto. This, as everybody knew, was about #1 on his Not To Do list. And coming in his pants without Kaiba laying a hand on him, just through tonguing his ear, was definitely embarrassing.

"Impatient little dog, aren't you?"

The amusement in Kaiba's voice was almost unbearable, and Jounouchi squeezed his eyes even tighter shut, not wanting to look at him.

Then a kiss landed on his lips, so much sweeter and more tender than anything else he'd received from the brunette that his entire body reacted in shock. He found himself staring into serious blue eyes just beginning to allow him to see in into their depths, and Kaiba said quietly, "I don't mind that you're impatient." He hesitated, looking as though it would cost him far more than he could afford to continue, and Jounouchi stared in mute fascination.

Finally, Kaiba pressed a kiss to his cheek and looked past him as he said quickly, "I care about you no matter what."

Jounouchi felt like he'd just been hit in the stomach with a thundercloud. *He cares about me?* Granted, Kaiba's disinclination to kick him out after discovering Jounouchi had a serious crush on him showed that he wasn't adverse to deeper feelings in their relationship, but this … this was … This was something else entirely.

Kaiba was still staring at the wall beside Jounouchi's head, and although his face didn't change colour Jounouchi could tell this was only because the brunette was holding a blush back by force. He stared at the dark-haired teenager, and felt a grin beginning to creep onto his face.

"I'm impressed," he said. His voice was bubbling with smiles, and Kaiba looked at him, startled. "You actually admitted you care about someone other than Mokuba."

Aha! There it was! Just a hint of red in Kaiba's cheeks! Jounouchi felt like little creatures in his head were jumping around in a triumphant victory dance at having forced a crack in his mask.

"Don't feel too special," Kaiba said, glare set on Rare and author's poetic skill set on None.

Jounouchi couldn't help himself. He grinned.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "What's so funny?" he asked warily.

He grinned some more.

"What?" Kaiba snapped.

"You." He continued to grin, feeling as though he was dancing inside. (Possibly Riverdance, although without the green tights and the girls in sports bras.)

"Stop smiling at me!" Kaiba barked (dog reference fully intended).

"Okay." And Jounouchi kissed him. As funny as Kaiba was when he was angry, they were both happier when they were just themselves.

Several long moments later, Kaiba wrapped his arms around Jounouchi's neck and rested their foreheads together. "I take it now you understand how puppy-love works?"

Jounouchi glared. "Kaiba, one more dog reference, and I'll shave your eyebrows and turn your hair into a doormat."

Another day, another argument with Kaiba Seto. Some things were just too good to change.

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The End.

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