Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Golden Dance ❯ 10: Hidden Dreams ( Chapter 10 )

Title: The Golden Dance Chapter 10: Hidden Dreams
Author: Tsutsuji
Rating: Adult.
Type: Slash/yaoi romance, adventure
Pairings: Seto/Jonouchi, Seth/Jonouchi, etc.
Warnings: WIP. AU version of Ancient Egypt story. Spoilers for Ancient Egypt
Arc, even though this will be contain an AU version of it.

Summary: Are Jonouchi's dreams trying to clue him in to the truth about the past?

Seth may be clueless about his own love life, but he may be better at figuring out Kaiba's than Kaiba is. As Kaiba falls deeper into his strange illness, both he and Jonouchi reach turning points that could change everything.

 

***---

Chapter 10: Hidden Dreams

 

'Think about it - there must be higher love,

Down in the heart, or hidden in the stars above...'

-- Steve Winwood, "Higher Love"

 

---***

 

Kaiba propped himself up as well as he could on his pillows while he waited for Seth to say whatever he was going to say. However, having announced his intention to speak, Seth didn't appear to be in any hurry to start.

 

Yugi and Mokuba had explained Seth's presence to him as well as they could, not that it made much sense even then. As much as he wanted to believe this was all just some trick or illusion, Kaiba knew Seth was real. He wasn't sure about any of the rest of it, his weakness or the weird dreams or visions he was having, but at least he knew he wasn't hallucinating when he saw his time-traveling double from ancient Egypt standing next to his bed. Seth looked down at him with his sad expression.

 

Get out of my sight, he wanted to yell, as if Seth was some ordinary intruder who had wandered into his office at Kaiba Corp. He couldn't get the words out. Every time he woke up from one of his faints he had even less strength, and it took longer to get back what he had left. All he could do for now was glare as hard as he could and hope that Seth would get the message.

 

Unfortunately, Seth appeared to be oblivious to his glare. He looked warily at the many wires the trailed from Kaiba to the machines that were reading his vital signs and whatever else the doctors found to investigate.

 

"Your physicians use strange tools," he murmured. "Are these devices capable of curing you, Seto-Kaiba?"

 

"No," Kaiba answered shortly. "No more than your chanting and hand waving did earlier."

 

Seth didn't seem to know enough to be offended. He just stood there with a gloomy expression that Kaiba hoped no one had ever seen on his face. Eventually the priest spoke again, but it was almost as if he spoke to himself.

 

“When you walk in my memories, you see only Jumoke and no others,” he said softly.

 

Kaiba closed his eyes and nearly groaned out loud. He must have been muttering some nonsense from his dreams when Seth had come into the room. I'm not walking around in your memories, I'm just having a bunch of crazy dreams about Jonouchi, he wanted to snap. But before he could draw enough breath to speak again, Seth sighed and went on, sounding even more gloomy than before.

 

“I wonder why you say nothing of Bakura, who is also a strong presence in my own heart, even though I wish it wasn't so?”

 

Kaiba stared up at Seth with his mouth open for a moment, confused all over again. What did that crazy duelist who had wormed his way into the Battle City Finals have to do with any of this?

 

“Bakura?” he finally said. “That - that psychopathic, marshmallow-headed geek?”

 

At least, that's what his brain said, but the Egyptian words for “mad, soft, downy-feather-haired youth” came out of his mouth. Close enough, he decided. Seth cocked his head for a second, but then he smiled and nodded.

 

“Ah, you must refer to the Bakura of this world, the one they also call Ra-yoo,” he said. He made an odd face as he tried to pronounce Bakura's given name, which Kaiba only vaguely remembered. “I assure you, the Bakura of my own world is not at all soft or downy-feathered.”

 

His sad, bitter smile didn't make him look any happier. Kaiba finally remembered Yugi telling him that there was another ancient Egyptian character who had arrived with Seth from the past, and something about them trying to kill each other. Yugi had stammered and blushed when Mokuba had asked him why, and could only say they weren't quite clear on that point yet.

 

Suddenly he remembered why they'd been fighting, but he didn't know if Yugi had mentioned it or if it came from one of his feverish dreams.

 

“Jumoke is dead?” The words came out in a choked gasp.

 

Seth bowed his head. “My beloved has gone to the West,” he said softly.

 

Something seemed to clench around Kaiba's heart, stopping his breath in the same way the first attack this morning had done. He shook his head against painful memories that couldn't possibly be his own. His Jumoke - Jonouchi, rather - was just as alive as ever; he had to be. Kaiba remembered seeing him right here in this room, not long ago. But next to that memory, an image came to him of Jonouchi lying as still as death, as cold and pale as the stones of the tomb they'd left him in….

 

Kaiba choked back a cry of denial. Seth looked down at him sympathetically and shook his head.

 

“You do not need to feel my grief as your own,” he said with a patient, priestly smile. “Your own beloved Jonouchi is alive, and -

“He's not my beloved!” Kaiba snapped. He sat forward so suddenly that Seth took a step backward. “He's not my anything at all!”

 

For a few seconds they stared at each other, both shocked and wide-eyed. Kaiba knew they mirrored each other perfectly, except that he was dripping sweat and panting for breath while Seth stood quite still.

 

Kaiba shuddered and closed his eyes, afraid of what Seth might see if they stared at each other too long. He fell back on the pillows, shaking as waves of heat and cold swept over him. If he really was reliving Seth's memories, he suddenly wondered: could Seth see what was in his mind as well?

 

When he looked up again, Seth's head was bowed, and his face was troubled.

 

“Do you not love Jonouchi as I did Jumoke?” he muttered. “If you do, I have done you a great wrong, Seto-Kaiba. That is why I have come to you now, to beg your forgiveness, for I have trespassed on the territory of your heart. But if you do not love him, then what of Jonouchi's heart…?”

 

He frowned and cocked his head questioningly. Kaiba was ready to meet his eyes this time, and stared back with a cool gaze in spite of the fever and weakness that passed through his body. Seth couldn't read his mind. That was a ridiculous idea.

 

However, Seth only shook his head slowly and smiled as if he knew everything there was to know.

 

“Your words may deny it, but my own heart sees the truth. Why else would you wander in my memories of Jumoke as you do? I think that is why you only remember him from my past and no others. I guess your heart is captured just as mine was. Perhaps even more so, for you never loved another as I did, it seems.”

 

“I don't choose to wander in your memories at all,” Kaiba snarled, but his voice had grown weak again. He was about to fall into another fainting spell, and in spite of what he said, he knew what dreams he would find there. But he wasn't about to admit it, not to this smug, all-knowing version of himself - even if he couldn't deny it from himself any longer

 

Seth opened his mouth to speak again, but Kaiba cut him off.

 

“Unless you have something more useful to say, like why this is happening to me or how to stop it, then get the hell out of my room, right now! I've heard enough of your Egyptian nonsense!”

 

His breath ran out and he couldn't go on. Seth finally seemed to get the message, though. He bowed, and then turned to go.

 

“I will leave you to rest, Seto-Kaiba,” he said. “Jonouchi would insist on it, for his concern for you is great. I understand now... I will not trouble you with my words any further, for I fear your heart would mistake their meaning. We will speak again later.”

 

“I hope not,” Kaiba muttered. He turned away and closed his eyes, shutting out the priest. He tried to ignore the little twist he felt inside when Seth had said Jonouchi was concerned about him. The last thing he wanted was pity from the mutt.

 

He heard the door close, and dared to open his eyes only when he was certain Seth was gone. The room was starting to go dim again, but he blinked and gritted his teeth, trying to hold onto his own thoughts a little longer.

 

The vision of Jonouchi - no, Jumoke - lying there, dead and entombed, flashed into his mind again. He winced. That was just some fantasy out of the past, not reality. Jonouchi was not about to die.

 

On the other hand, he realized, he just might be dying, for all he knew. The doctors were useless, they had no more idea what was happening to him than he did. He might as well call in the hucksters who sold charms to gullible tourists to cure him.

 

Seth said they would speak again later, but he was beginning to wonder if there would be any "later." If he fell into one of these fainting fits and never woke up….

 

Kaiba suddenly felt as mournful as Seth had looked. If he never woke up, he would never see Mokuba again… or Jonouchi. But at least Mokuba knew how much his big brother loved him, he hoped. Jonouchi would never know that he felt exactly the way he'd just told Seth he didn't feel about him.

 

Jonouchi wouldn't know he felt the same way Seth had felt when he sat beside Jumoke and watched the sun rise over the Nile, when he wasn't really watching the sky at all. He only saw the golden light of Ra touch golden hair, and felt warm, golden skin against his own.

 

“Jonouchi,” Kaiba whispered, "Katsuya."

 

The vision faded. He tried to hold on to it, but the world fell away into darkness again.

---

 

Something rocked the bed and jarred Jonouchi awake, but not quite awake enough to make him open his eyes just yet.

 

"Yugi?" he mumbled. "Is that you?"

 

It had gotten so hot again that he really didn't feel like moving, but he managed to lift his tired head from where it rested on his arm and to pry his eyes open.

 

Yugi was there, but Jou had to squint to see him against the glare. When his eyes adjusted, he saw that the light came from bright sun reflected off the water. Of course he wasn't on a bed - why did he think that? He was on a boat which Yugi guided with a long pole, pushing it across the dazzling water toward a bank of reeds that grew higher than Jou's head.

 

The sun beat down on them, on Yugi's golden-brown skin and his plain white tunic, and on Jou in his - well, in not much, he realized as he looked down at himself. He just had a sort of towel wrapped around his waist, and nothing else. He distinctly remembered getting dressed just a few minutes ago after he'd made love with Seth. But it was raining then...

 

For a second, Jou knew he was having another one of his weird dreams. He wondered why he kept dreaming about Yugi and himself being in Egypt. Then the boat slipped in between the reeds that rose up like a wall around it, blocking off the view of the wide water they'd just crossed, and somehow that made him forget that he was dreaming. They ran aground softly on the muddy riverbank, and Yugi hopped out.

 

"Hey, wait for me!" he said. He jumped off the boat and followed before Yugi could disappear among the reeds.

 

Yugi led him along a path that only he seemed to be able to see. Jonouchi noticed that he was hunched over as he walked, as if he was carrying something heavy and precious in his hands.

 

He remembered the game they'd played recently, a game of hide-and-seek where Yugi gave him small objects to hide. He'd hidden every one of them as cleverly as he could all over the palace, but Yugi always found them - all but one of them.

 

"What've you got there, Yug? You want me to hide something so you can to search for it again?" Jonouchi said.

 

Yugi shook his head but didn't turn around. Jonouchi shrugged and kept following him.

 

He caught a glimpse of something bright gleaming through the reeds ahead. Jonouchi thought they must be on an island and they'd come back to the river on the other side, but when they stepped out into a clearing a second later, he saw there was only a pool of water in a basin of white stone. Lotus flowers grew in pool, but where the sun danced off the water in between them, it was brilliant blue, like the color of Seto's eyes.

 

Yugi walked past this without giving it any notice, and then Jou saw that it wasn't the sunlight on the water that he'd glimpsed shining through the reeds. Three gleaming, white, rectangular stones, nearly twice as high as his head, stood beyond the pool. Two of them were carved with figures, although one of them was too cracked to tell what the carving had been, and the third one was blank. Jonouchi had a feeling of awe and wariness as he stood in front of them, as if it was forbidden to look at them.

 

"Are you sure it's okay to be here, Yugi?" he asked nervously.

 

Yugi turned to him but didn't answer. Instead, he held out the object in his hands. Jonouchi was surprised to see the carved, golden box that he kept some of his best cards in. He remembered Yugi giving him a couple of powerful cards from that box when they were on the way to Duelist Kingdom - an awesome gift, he thought.

 

"You don't need to give me any more of your Duel Monsters, Yugi," he said quickly.

 

Yugi frowned at him as if his words didn't make sense. Then Jou saw that the lid of the box was open, and he looked down into it to see - nothing. It was empty.

 

"What?" For a second he was confused, as if he couldn't remember what was missing. "Wait, isn't this where you keep that puzzle of yours?" he asked.

 

Yugi's eyes went wide, his finger came up to his lips.

 

Jonouchi clamped his hand over his mouth. "Oh, no, what'd I say wrong?"

 

Yugi stared at him for a moment with the same look he got on his face when he was trying to teach Jou one of his games that nobody else could make sense of, the look that said "you're hopeless, you know that?" in a friendly way. After a second, he shrugged and turned around to look at the stone tablets. Awestruck but curious, Jonouchi looked up at them as well.

 

He realized he recognized the carving on the one that was complete. But it wasn't a stone tablet; it was just a card in Yugi's hand. Yugi held it out to him.

 

"Oh yeah, that's Time Wizard! You sure you want me to have this, Yugi?"

 

Yugi nodded emphatically, smiling in that way he had that made Jonouchi wonder how anyone could not like the little guy.

 

"Okay," Jonouchi said. "I'll take it, if you're sure. I bet it'll come in handy sometime.... Uh- oh. What?"

 

Yugi's smile had frozen on his face. A cold wind came up from behind Jonouchi and bent the reeds toward the ground, and a shadow fell across his back.

 

Yugi stared past him. His huge, amethyst eyes had grown wide with fear. Jonouchi felt like he was frozen to the spot. He sensed something dark and terrible approaching from behind him, but he couldn't turn around; he couldn't move at all.

 

"Run, Yugi! Go!" he yelled.

 

Yugi had already disappeared. It was just him and this thing approaching, this cold, black shadow rushing up behind him.

 

At the last second before he knew it was going to engulf him, all he could think was "I can't let it get him!" But it wasn't Yugi or even himself he was worried about.

 

"Seto!" he yelled, and woke up.

 

Clutching his chest, gasping for breath and sweating cold bullets, Jonouchi sat up on the bed.

 

"What the...?" he gasped.

 

The images from the dream jumbled and faded as he remembered where he was - in a room in Kaiba's mansion, next to the one where Kaiba himself was lying there fading in and out of reality, in the grip of some mysterious illness. The dream faded, but the sense of dread for Kaiba was sharper than ever.

 

Still panting for breath, Jonouchi jumped up and headed for the door. He nearly ran right into Yugi in the hallway.

 

"Jeeze, Yugi! I fell asleep! What's happening? How's Kaiba? Are the doctors gone, or what?"

 

"Kaiba's just the same, as far as I know," Yugi said. "I was coming to look for you, though. Anzu just called again. She's been trying to reach Bakura, but he's not answering his phone! She's worried about him, so she and Honda are going to meet at his place to make sure he's okay."

 

"Yeah?" Jonouchi said absently. That didn't sound good, but he was more concerned about what was going on in Kaiba's room. The door was closed, but he thought he heard voices from the other side of it.

 

He'd finally remembered what he'd decided to tell Kaiba, but he still didn't know how he was going to say it, exactly. He'd rather not have too many witnesses to the scene that was likely going to end in ridicule and humiliation for him. If he could just get a few minutes alone with Kaiba while he was awake...

 

The door flew open and Mokuba charged out like a kid on a mission. He threw the door shut behind him, then stopped short when he saw the two of them standing there in the hallway.

 

"Jonouchi! Great! You're right here!" He looked relieved.

 

"Why? What's up?" Jou asked quickly.

 

"Seto told me to find you. He wants to talk to you, right away!"

 

"He's awake? That's good news!" Yugi said.

 

"Me? He wants to see me?" Jonouchi said nervously. He couldn't think of any good reason for Kaiba to want to see him. More likely, he was going to get chewed out and insulted even before he even had a chance to really make a fool of himself.

 

Mokuba nodded. "Yeah. I told you, he's been saying your name all the time, but this is the first time he's actually asked for you when he was conscious!"

 

Jou caught Yugi's puzzled and concerned look out of the corner of his eye.

 

"Do you want us to come in there with you?" Yugi asked.

 

Jou shook his head. "Nah. I'll live. Anyway, I've got something I need to say to him while I've got the chance."

 

"I don't think he wants to see anyone else right now," Mokuba said to Yugi. "He especially said not to let Seth into his room again."

 

"No surprise there," Jonouchi said. Then he did a double-take at Mokuba. "Wait a sec, are you saying Seth's been in there again since before?"

 

Mokuba nodded. "I guess he was here a little while ago. Seto wanted to know where he is, too, but he just said to make sure he stays away from here!" He looked at Jou and Yugi reproachfully. "I was hoping he could help somehow, but it seems like every time he comes near, Seto feels worse."

 

"That's not really surprising," Yugi said, "especially since he doesn't want to believe that Seth exists."

 

Jonouchi was more concerned with what Seth had said to Kaiba on his last visit. It must have been while he was sleeping, after he and Seth had been together. But Seth wouldn't have told Kaiba what they'd done, would he? Could that be why Kaiba wanted to see him now - to tear his head of for having sex in his house with his double? Somehow, Jonouchi thought, but I was thinking of you all the time was going to sound pretty lame, in that case.

 

"Can that priest possibly cause any more trouble?" he muttered.

 

Ignoring the curious looks from Mokuba and Yugi, he stepped up the door, took a deep breath, opened it, and plunged into the room.

 

---

 

"Damn it," Kaiba muttered, staring at the door where Mokuba had just slammed just behind him. He didn't even care what language he swore in.

 

He'd come to a minute ago and found Mokuba standing by the bed. His heart had felt wrenched; his little brother looked lost and scared for a second, before he'd managed to cover it up.

 

Kaiba knew he'd been muttering something about Jumoke again, just before he woke up, and this time he knew why. When Mokuba asked again if he wanted to see Jonouchi, he didn't hesitate to answer.

 

"Yes. Find him for me, Mokuba, fast - before I forget where I am again!"

 

Startled, Mokuba had run off to do as he asked without another word.

 

Kaiba realized he could deny it to Seth all he wanted, and to anyone else, but he didn't have the strength left to deny it to himself. When he'd fallen into those crazy Egyptian dreams again this time, he knew even as he was dreaming that these weren't Seth's memories of making love to Jumoke in the deep night on the edge of the desert, or under the sun on the banks of the Nile. They were his own fantasies of Jonouchi, and he wanted those fantasies of the ancient past to be real.

 

It would never happen, of course. He'd done far too good a job of throwing up a wall between himself and the golden-haired, no-longer-third-rate duelist to keep him away. He'd had to. There wasn't room in his life or his heart for anyone else but Mokuba.

 

That's what he'd always believed, until now. Maybe it was only this fever affecting his brain, but it seemed like his entire life had been thrown into question by the presence of Seth and this illness that weakened him for no reason. It might be crazy and it was probably pointless, but he wanted to see Jonouchi again, and he wanted to tell him...

 

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Jonouchi stepped in. He closed the door behind him and slowly came across the room, staring hard at Kaiba. With his head down, peering out from under his hair, he looked wary, as if he thought he was walking into a lion's den.

 

Kaiba felt almost like his breath was being taken away again, but not in the painful way it was when a fainting spell attacked him. He realized suddenly that the vision he saw in Seth's memories was of a different person, as much like and yet unlike Jonouchi as he was like and unlike Seth. If that meant Jumoke was real after all, he didn't even care anymore. Jumoke might have been gorgeous in Seth's eyes, but it was only Jonouchi who took his own breath away.

 

How the hell could this have happened, he wondered, as Jonouchi stopped beside the bed. It was almost as if the obsession he'd been burying and hiding from himself for so long had somehow been drawn through time to be flaunted in his face.

 

"Feeling any better?" Jonouchi asked.

 

"At the moment," Kaiba lied. Sweat broke out on his forehead and his heart pounded just from the effort of speaking, but he tried to ignore that.

 

Jonouchi looked at him warily for a second. He looked scared, Kaiba thought, but he couldn't guess why.

 

"Mokuba said you wanted to see me about something," he said. "I was on my way here, as a matter of fact. I've got something to say to you, too, Kaiba."

 

"Whatever you have to say will have to wait," Kaiba said quickly, trying not to gasp for breath. "I don't know how much time I have for this, so just keep quiet and listen, for a change!"

 

Jonouchi scowled, and Kaiba saw his fists clench at his sides. Whatever the mutt was worried about, he was still as quick to anger as ever. But then he relaxed and nodded.

 

"Sure, I guess. Say whatever it is you have to say. But if you're going to rip my head off, can you at least do it in our own language? "

 

For some reason, that made Kaiba grin. He didn't even notice which language he was using any more, but he agreed. This discussion belonged strictly in the present.

 

"Of course," he said, speaking carefully and distinctly in their native tongue. "I prefer to speak in my own language, but just remember, I'm doing the talking."

 

Jonouchi nodded again. He stood there in a slouch with his hands in his pockets. He looked like he was waiting for a blow. Kaiba took a few seconds to try to get his breath so he'd sound as normal as possible when he started to speak again - or maybe it was more than a few seconds, because suddenly he found Jonouchi sitting on the side of his bed, leaning toward him and looking worried.

 

"Shit, Kaiba," he said. "You don't even have the strength to tell me off, do you?"

 

Kaiba shook his head. "That's not..." he began. But Jonouchi was so close, staring at him so intently, that he couldn't finish.

 

"Seth was in here again, wasn't he?" Jonouchi said. "Mokuba says every time he comes near you, you get worse. Did he say something that freaked you out or something?"

 

Kaiba found himself grinning. Apparently, Seth was right about that, too.

 

"He said you were concerned about me," he said. "I thought he was dreaming!"

 

"I am worried about you, Kaiba!" Jonouchi said, but he sounded more angry than worried. "I hate seeing you like this. If I could do anything to make you better, I'd do it in a second! Don't you believe that?"

 

He did. Almost. He wanted to.

 

But he was starting to fade out again already. He was lightheaded and he shivered with cold. The room seemed to be shifting around behind Jonouchi. He reached out to steady himself. Jonouchi looked down at his hand where it had landed on his arm. Kaiba looked down at it, too. He curled his weak fingers around Jonouchi's sleeve. He didn't want to let go.

 

"Don't disappear again," he said without thinking.

 

"Huh? I'm not going anywhere," Jonouchi answered. Now he sounded worried.

 

Jonouchi's hand closed over his. That helped; he was able to open his eyes and focus again.

 

"Seth said something else," Kaiba said. It was getting harder to talk, his breath felt so shallow. Jonouchi frowned and opened his mouth, but Kaiba went on quickly, before his voice could give out completely. "He seemed to think the reason I keep remembering how it was with him and Jumoke is because I feel the same way about you. I wanted to tell him he was crazy, but I couldn't, because he's right."

 

He had to pause. That was alright; it gave him the chance to watch Jonouchi's face as the words sank in. The mutt was looking at him blankly. Did he have to spell it out? After a few seconds, he managed to continue.

 

"I've been imagining what it was like for Seth having someone like you for a lover, because I want that for myself."

 

"He said... huh?" Jonouchi stared at him disbelievingly.

 

Kaiba had run out of breath again. It wasn't just the weakness coming over him, though. Jonouchi's face was so close to his that he couldn't seem to think clearly anymore. He couldn't see the room behind Jonouchi; it could have disappeared entirely for all he knew. He moved his hand up from Jonouchi's arm to his shoulder and tried to pull himself up, but his grip was weak. Jonouchi caught his hand before it slipped off, held it there, and leaned down closer instead.

 

"Kaiba?" he said. He sounded nervous.

 

"Jonouchi..." Kaiba said.

 

He looked up into worried, golden-brown eyes. He didn't have the strength to say any more, so he did the only thing he could think of to make it clear - the only thing he wanted to do now anyway. He pulled Jonouchi down until they were inches apart, breath to breath.

 

Jonouchi didn't pull away, but only made a funny, little, surprised sound when Kaiba kissed him.

 

---

 

For a horror-struck second after Kaiba had taken hold of his shoulder, Jonouchi thought Seth had somehow replaced Kaiba, or possessed him, because he saw that same hunger and longing he'd seen in Seth's eyes before. But Kaiba's words a moment ago were in his own language, even if they didn't seem to make any sense. Even when Kaiba said his name breathlessly, he still didn't quite believe what he was hearing and seeing.

 

When Kaiba kissed him, he knew. This was not Seth. Kaiba tasted different after all, and maybe it was just the fever, but the heat of his mouth was hotter. Seth's kiss had been sure and familiar, but Kaiba's mouth on his was hungry with a different kind of longing, new and a little clumsy, maybe even a little desperate. Or maybe that was him being so eager...

 

Even so, Jonouchi murmured a question into the kiss.

 

"Kaiba?"

 

Kaiba's reply was a sigh against his lips. His fingers clutched at Jonouchi's neck, trying not to let the kiss end, but he was too weak to hold on. Jonouchi caught his hand and tucked it against his chest, then slid his arm behind Kaiba's back to hold him up close. He let their kiss continue until he was afraid Kaiba was going to faint again for lack of air, then he gently pushed him away, caressing the hot skin of his cheek. Kaiba's breath was soft and fast on his face.

 

He let his forehead rest against Kaiba's and looked him in the eyes.

 

"Damn," he said, with a sulky little sigh.

 

Kaiba's eyebrow quirked up and his frown looked worried.

 

"Nah, I didn't mind at all," Jonouchi reassured him quickly. "It's just that you beat me to the punch. That's pretty much what I was going to say."

 

Kaiba stared up at him.

 

"You're joking," he said, in a panting whisper.

 

"Nope. Not joking."

 

Kaiba still looked like he didn't believe it. Jonouchi touched his cheek.

 

"When Seth kept looking at me like I was his long lost lover, I kept wishing it was really you looking at me like that," Jonouchi explained. He gave Kaiba another brief kiss. "Looks like I get my wish."

 

Kaiba slowly smiled. He rested his cheek against Jonouchi's. Jou pulled him into his arms and held him, just listening to him breathe. His face was not so hot anymore.

 

"Better," Kaiba said after a minute of silence. "I feel better now."

 

"Good," Jonouchi sighed with relief. He blinked a few times; his eyes suddenly felt a little watery for some reason.

 

A second later, Kaiba's eyes fluttered closed and he fell soundly asleep in Jonouchi's arms.

 

Jonouchi stayed where he was, bent over with his face next to Kaiba's, listening to his soft breaths and the quiet bleep of the machines.

 

"Don't disappear on me now, Seto," he said.

 

---

To be continued!