TITLE: Unexpected Consequences &nb sp; AUTHOR: setosgirl
DATE : 6-20-06 &n bsp; ; FANDOM: YGO DISCLAIMER: I don’t own YGO.
PAIRINGS: Joey/Seto TYPE: Romance &n bsp; OCs: None
CHAPTER: 5/5 &nb sp; RATING: PG & nbsp; WORDS: 2848
WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: Joey takes his last shot to make Seto forgive him.
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Unexpected Consequences
PART V: Last Chance
Joey sighed as he walked toward the school. He could see Seto’s limo in the distance as it pulled in to drop him off, but he knew he’d be sitting in his desk with his nose in a book by the time he got there.
Seto refused to answer his phone calls; he’d tried for two days, several times a day. Apparently, he still did hate him.
Maybe he should stop trying, he figured. It seemed that every time he tried to do something to help Seto, he ended up making everything worse. He couldn’t just give up, though. He wanted to make sure Seto was okay, at least, after what happened on Friday. That guy really was going to drag him off and rape him, after all, even if Seto couldn’t manage to say it… And it really was his fault. He was the one who dragged him to the club, and dressed him up to be so sexy, and he didn’t make much of an effort to keep him from getting drunk.
Scratching his head, he sighed again and let the thoughts go. Whatever… he’d deal with Seto when he saw him, and there was no point in worrying over it before he did.
“Joey!” He didn’t look up, but he raised a hand in the general direction of Yugi’s voice. He wasn’t really in a good mood to deal with his friends now.
“Joey?” He sighed and stopped to wait as Yugi caught up with him. “I guess it didn’t go too well with Seto, did it?”
He laughed sharply and looked at his short friend. “You’ve got to be kidding me. He got wasted and told me point blank that he hates me. Repeatedly. I think I’d better take his word for it.”
Yugi frowned a little. “You said he was drunk, though…?”
“Yeah. He told me that he got drunk so that he could tell me exactly how he felt. It was pretty clear.” He wasn’t about to tell Yugi the rest of what Seto told him. That didn’t even seem to apply anymore, but even so, it was private.
They walked together into the classroom, and Joey’s eyes automatically sought out Seto at his desk. He was there, as expected, but his book was open and ignored before him; he was looking at the door. As soon as their eyes met, though, he flinched away and went back to reading.
Joey frowned. “I’m gonna talk to him,” he said, and excused himself from Yugi. He sat in the desk in front of Seto’s, backward, and looked at him.
“Seto…?” he asked.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from me?” Seto asked without looking up. His voice was expressionless, but wary.
He frowned. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay after what happened on Friday. You didn’t answer my phone calls.”
“I was busy.” He looked up from the book. “And I don’t remember what happened on Friday. I was too drunk, frankly.”
The look implied that his being drunk was Joey’s fault – hell no. Hell. No.
“Hey,” he said, glaring. “I’m not the one who got you drunk; you did that yourself. I tried to stop you after your second one.”
“I’m aware of that.” Seto looked down, at his book again. “I didn’t say my state was your fault. I repeat, though, I don’t remember what happened on Friday. I do, however, recall telling you I hate you, and to, please, stay away from me.”
Joey frowned again and opened his mouth to reply, but the teacher called them to order then, and he had to find his own seat. “We need to talk later, though,” he said, even if Seto pretended to ignore him.
“Seto! Hey, Seto!”
Predictably, the brunet didn’t pause as he walked out of the school, though Joey did get a fair amount of strange looks for yelling out his first name. He ran to catch up, managing to grab his arm just outside the door. He could swear he felt him flinch, though Seto only looked at him coldly.
“Didn’t you hear me?” he asked, breathing a little heavily.
“It’s called ignoring you,” Seto said, as coldly as his glare. Joey wondered what that mask of ice was hiding, for probably the first time ever. “If you don’t mind, I have to go to work.”
“Take a break,” he suggested. “We need to talk.”
Seto narrowed his eyes. “No.”
His hand on Seto’s arm got a little more insistent. “I still have one more try left. I don’t wanna go anyplace idiotic like I did before… I just want to talk. Lets go to the park or something.”
Seto immediately yanked his arm away. “You must be insane,” he hissed, “to suggest I go anywhere alone with you after what you did last time.”
Joey drew back. “Seto…? What the hell are you talking about…?”
“You know damned well. You sure as hell seemed concerned about it this morning.”
He frowned. What the hell was Seto thinking? That he did something to him on Friday? Whatever the hell it was, he sure as hell didn’t seem to remember the whole story. “Now we’ve really got to talk,” he said. “I don’t know what you think you remember about Friday night, but I didn’t do anything to you.”
Seto only glared at him, not responding.
He sighed in exasperation. “Damn it, Seto, just come with me. I swear, I won’t do anything to you. If I do… I don’t know. You can hit me or something. You know you’re stronger and faster than I am. I can’t stop you.”
For a brief moment, Seto’s icy mask faded, but Joey didn’t have enough time to interpret what he saw there before it was back. He nodded shortly to him and gave a wave of his hand to brush the driver off. The limo began to pull away, empty, as Joey led Seto down the steps without touching him, and out of the school grounds, toward the wooded park nearby.
Seto didn’t say a word, maintaining his stiff silence that didn’t really let Joey say anything to break it either. He did hesitate for a moment before he would enter the trees behind Joey, though when he looked at Seto, he steeled himself and took the step.
Joey led him to a little clear spot with trees all around where they wouldn’t be disturbed. “Here’s good,” he said, and leaned against a tree, not really sure what to say next.
Seto leaned against a tree across the clearing. “You can stop denying it,” he said. “I don’t remember everything, but I remember at least part of what you did. I admit I was an idiot to get drunk and trust you around me. You probably knew I wouldn’t be able to defend myself.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about?!” Joey had his hands clenched into fists, but he very carefully unfolded them and tried to calm down. “Believe me,” he said more calmly. “You were too drunk… I don’t think you remember everything…”
“I remember enough!” Seto said, his own hands clenched into fists and making no effort to rectify that. “You grabbed me and kissed me, I remember that! And I distinctly remember trying to push you away.”
Oh, god… what was he smoking in those cigarettes? “Seto, I didn’t –”
“Then how do you explain this?!” Seto’s sleeve was yanked backward to expose his wrist, with a very clearly hand-shaped bruise encircling it. He suddenly understood, and was actually a bit relieved. At least it had a rational explanation.
“God…” he said. “You think that was me?”
“Who the fuck else would it have been? You were the only one I went out with!” Seto actually looked distressed. He hadn’t wanted to talk about this, Joey guessed. He just wanted to repress it like he did with the act that had landed then in this position in the first place…
“Seto,” he said calmly, slowly stepping forward. “Calm down,” He grabbed Seto’s hand as he tried to retract it and wound his hand around his wrist, looking up pointedly as the bruise continued darkly past the edges of his hand. “It wasn’t me,” he told him again, calmly, trying to calm Seto down. “My hand is too small to do this.”
Seto looked down at the evidence, then back up at him, eyebrows furrowed. “…Then what am I remembering?” he asked, more calmly. “I didn’t just make it up… did I? There really is something, isn’t there?” It was clear he’d rather have been molested for real than have been operating under a delusion for three days.
He just nodded and let his hand go. “We got to the club. You had two drinks in two minutes and bummed a cigarette from a big guy with spiky hair who hangs out there a lot. You had several more drinks, and then I had some drinks, then you started talking about how much you hate me and like me and are confused by me. Then you decided you needed another cigarette – you were already plastered by then and went to go get one from the same guy.” Realization, or remembrance, was beginning to dawn in Seto’s eyes. “He’s the one who did this. I looked up just as he grabbed you and kissed you, and started dragging you away. You were almost too drunk to walk, so you couldn’t really fight him off. I just got there when he said –”
“‘Come on, baby, let’s just go for a walk…’” Seto murmured, looking away from his face. “I thought it was you. Because of that…”
“Because I called you ‘baby’… before?” He wasn’t about to say when before, because he didn’t want to remind him of it. But yeah.
Seto nodded and looked up, then took a rather deep breath. “So you saved me from getting raped,” he said. “I owe you an apology…”
Joey blushed, but shook his head. “No… you were right. It was my fault. I was the one who took you there, and it was my fault you were dressed like that, and I let you get drunk as you were and walk off. If I hadn’t been so drunk, I woulda known that was a bad idea; you’re too gorgeous to go wandering around a place like that…” He shut his mouth then, wondering if he had crossed a line there. He didn’t mean to say that Seto was gorgeous… and Seto probably didn’t want to hear it.
There was silence, then a strangely loud ‘snick’ noise. He glanced up to find Seto looking at nothing in particular and sliding a sleek silver lighter back into his pocket, inhaling from a cigarette. “I still have to thank you,” he finally said, looking over to meet his eyes once again. “You did save me. If not for you… I might have died, honestly. I was too drunk to do anything for myself. And it was my choice to get that drunk, because I wanted to talk to you… I assume I did that, at least.” He nodded silently. Yeah, he remembered what Seto wanted to tell him… Hell, apparently, it even still applied. “And I didn’t mind going there, and you couldn’t know what was going to happen. It wasn’t in any way your fault.”
Joey blinked. “That’s not what you said then.”
Seto glared, but lightly. “I was drunk, in case you haven’t noticed. Not rational. I probably felt like it was your fault for one reason or another, but I know it wasn’t.”
“Do you remember what you said to me?” he asked. He wanted to know if he was too drunk to remember anything, or maybe if he remembered some of their conversation…
Seto nodded thoughtfully. “Most of it, I think. And I’m not taking any of it back. I said I hate you, and I meant it. I said I like you, and that I would like to like you… and I meant that too.” He took another drag from his cigarette. “And… the rest of it, too. If I said it, I probably meant it. I don’t understand my emotions sober, but I trust what I say drunk.”
Joey very carefully said nothing, watching and listening, letting Seto speak. It must have been hard for him, he figured; Seto never, ever spoke about his emotions, and here he was, admitting things he never expected to hear from him. It looked like their… relationship, for lack of a better term, just took a giant leap forward.
Without replying, he reached out to take Seto’s hand again, careful of the cigarette, and expose his wrist. “That looks bad,” he noted. “Are you sure it’s not broken?”
Seto nodded, but made no move to take his hand back. “Yes… it’s just a nasty bruise. I bruise fairly easily, but it doesn’t even hurt much.”
Joey nodded and released his hand; he finished the cigarette and dropped the butt on the ground. They stood there in silence for a little while, fairly close together, with nothing to say that didn’t sound like it would ruin everything. At least, that was what it felt like to Joey. He had no idea what Seto was thinking.
He learned soon enough. “I have something else to thank you for,” Seto said, making it sound like and admittance.
“…What?” he asked, looking up. He couldn’t think of anything.
Seto wasn’t meeting his eyes. “For… With what he did… I’m glad he didn’t get my first kiss.”
It took a very long time for that to sink in. Seto was thanking him? For something that had to do with That Day? For that dare, and demanding that kiss?
“Ah… No problem…” he said carefully. “I’m not going to say I’d do it again, but…”
“You wouldn’t…?” Seto asked. Joey would have thought he was joking, or taunting him, but he sounded like he had in the bar, when he told him the same thing. Unsure of himself. Shit. Joey realized right then all at once that he felt like he was just using hm… and, fuck, that was the last thing he wanted.
“I would if you wanted me to,” he answered calmly. “But I never will if you don’t want me to. How’s that for an answer?” He grinned, and hoped Seto wasn’t about to knock his teeth out.
Seto answered his grin slowly, but with a small smile. “I think that’s the right answer,” he said, and relaxed against the tree. “And, what if I said I wanted you to?”
“Kiss you?” Joey asked, blinking.
Seto nodded.
“Right now?”
Seto nodded again.
He stayed back. He wasn’t serious, was he? He didn’t think he could be. But Seto just sat there, waiting calmly.
He took the opportunity and hesitantly leaned up, putting on hand on the tree beside Seto’s head, and pressed their lips together, wary and ready to bolt if Seto reacted badly. That relaxed, though, as Seto did, and signaled that the kiss was accepted.
Joey ended it, still not sure what Seto wanted, and in no way willing to do anything without explicit permission. “I don’t think I get it,” he admitted. “I thought you still hated me for raping you…” He said it that way on purpose. Seto might flinch, but even that would reveal some of how he felt.
But Seto didn’t flinch, and seemed to sag a little. “I was wrong,” he said frankly, not running or trying to lessen it. “That’s too harsh for what happened. I’m not going to suddenly say I was completely willing, but it wasn’t rape. What the man from the club was going to do… that was rape. At worst, it was a misunderstanding with… unexpected consequences.”
He could have just let that go, and been delicate and everything… but that wasn’t really his style. He wanted everything out in the open before anything went any further. “What consequences?”
Seto glared at him for a moment, apparently for making him say it. “Unexpected consequences,” he repeated. “They involve me not hating you. Isn’t that enough?”
Joey grinned. “That’s a good start, anyway. I thought you wanted to hate me.”
“That doesn’t mean I do. It would be easier if I could, but especially knowing what happened on Friday… I don’t hate you. I owe you for what you did, and I choose to repay that by liking you and tolerating your existence in my life. Unless you’d rather I didn’t?” Seto lifted one eyebrow, obviously mocking him, and he laughed.
“No, I guess that’s a good enough payback. Friends?” he asked, sticking out a hand.
Seto took his hand, but not to shake it like he expected (if anything). He blinked and met Seto’s eyes.
“More?” Seto asked.
Joey grinned and gave into the strange urge to kiss Seto’s hand, which seemed like exactly the right thing to do.