Personal Taste

Shyro Foxfeather

Summary: Mokuba feels that Jounouchi and Seto will be together for quite a long time. His evidence is simply their actions towards one another.

Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto/Jou)

Notes: Some use of Japanese words, which include Gyoukuro (a very high-quality green tea), Matcha (a powdered green tea), Kimono (the typical Japanese garb for festivals and such—if you don't know what it looks like then Google would probably be the best way to understand), and Nii-chan (which means 'brother' and is presumably the way Mokuba refers to Seto). Also, I used their Japanese names, just because I felt like writing them more as they would be in Japan.

I recently read a very… depressing Seto/Jou fic in which Seto was completely cruel to Jou and felt that in order to clear my head I needed to write a fluff fic. This story assumes a few basic plot points. The two have been going out for a little over three months, Jou has been living with Seto for a little over two months, and the two have gotten past much of their psychological trauma with Jou's father and Seto's past. I use these points to valid-ify my portrayal of Kaiba as not being OC so much as he is contented and maybe even happy (which, arguably, could be OC).

Also, Seto is referred to as Seto because that is what Jounouchi calls him and vice versa.

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh.

---

"Tea?" Seto asked, looking strangely at Jounouchi. "We have plenty of tea."

The blond poked his head out of the pantry, waggling a green bag. "No. You have green tea. And of course you would have Gyoukuro. And Matcha for some strange reason—do you hold tea ceremonies here or something?" He disappeared from sight again, retreating back into the enormous pantry.

Well, this was something. Seto's knowledge of foods was limited to high-end restaurants and simple meals that he could cook on the weekends when his cook had the day off. He'd never really given any serious thought to tea before.

And the blond's comment had given him a mental image of the puppy in a Kimono. A very nice image, he might add.

"We have tea-flavored ice cream." He announced, half-distracted by the report on his laptop and half-amused by the annoyance on the blond's face when he suddenly reappeared.

"That is also Matcha flavored. And it's Mokuba's." Jounouchi shut the pantry door, abandoning hope that it contained what he was looking for.

"…we have tea and mint flavored toothpaste." The brunette supplied, suppressing a grin. He could feel a warning glare emanating from irritated brown eyes. He slowly looked up from his laptop, a cool expression on his face. "Okay, so what tea are you looking for?" He asked.

"Augh. Herbal teas, maybe? Of all things I would expect you to have white tea, with how everything else in your house seems to be so expensive. And mate would be absolutely fantastic." He listed, ticking off his fingers as though he was counting, but even then he must have been skipping some that were in his head or he was worse at math then Seto feared. He had ticked off nine fingers by now.

"So, you are a big tea connoisseur, I take it?" Seto asked, wondering why this outburst had not yet occurred in the two months they had been living together.

"Aa…" Jounouchi hesitated, a slight flush on his face. "Kind of. And if you say that's girly I will kill you."

Seto weighed his options carefully. He did not think liking tea was girly, but he loved to see the blond flustered. However, he would rather not have to explain to what degree he did not think liking tea was girly, so instead he asked: "What brought this on all of a sudden?"

Jounouchi stared at him and fidgeted. Seto's curiosity rose slightly. It was something that could even make the blond embarrassed? Some secret?

"Well, you know how I insist on walking to school some days?" The blond began. Seto knew, but he hadn't really thought much of it as the boy only insisted on doing so on mornings the brunette spent at the office. "Well, I leave early and stop at a tea shop that's on the way… well, it is actually out of the way now, but it was on the way when I lived… there…" The boy fidgeted again. "So now it's kind of cathartic to go there before class. And since break started I haven't had any tea so I've been… more irritable… I guess…"

Seto wondered if he should make a comment that the puppy was to tea like girls were to chocolate, which was only made more amusing since chocolate was toxic to dogs and thus it was natural the blond would be that attached to something else, but he suppressed the idea when the blond continued talking.

"Also," the Jounouchi added, a slight smirk edging on to his features, "I used to always go there after school on days I fought with you, since I didn't want to be tempted to deck you next time I saw you…"

Seto stared, allowing himself to look sincere in his interest. The blond had had many psychological problems—especially when he first moved in—but, to hear about something so adorable made the brunette want to treasure the new-found knowledge. To think he helped to foster a habit in the boy even through their bickering? Instead of revealing this, however, he asked, "So what is wrong with green tea?"

The blond resigned himself to conversation and took a seat across from Seto at the kitchen's island. "I like sweet, ah, fruity… teas…" He looked at Seto warily as if daring the boy to poke fun at him. "And I like them sweetened. And usually caffeinated, too. This shop has a lot of tea, too. You can even buy loose leaf teas, but that's always been too expensive and I had no way to brew it when I lived with my dad. But, I started coming in so often they gave me some discounts. And sometimes they let me work there during winter or summer breaks." Jounouchi grinned at the fond memories.

Seto's eyes darted to the spreadsheet that was split-screened with a product status report he was reading on his computer to the zoned-out, wistful looking blond in front of him. He had said that he was going to be working all day and he had meant it, too. His brother and his boyfriend were distracting and he'd gotten slightly behind on his work. But…

…

"… Alright. Let's go to your tea shop." He said, shutting his laptop.

Jounouchi looked startled, as if he honestly hadn't been expecting that. "Aa. I can go there by myself; I'm just broke after going to the park with you and Mokuba last week." He scratched at the back of his head, embarrassed. "You can't just keep paying for everything for me, either."

Hn. He hadn't successfully broken his puppy of the need to be financially independent yet and while that attitude was somewhat endearing it proved itself to be a common hindrance. He'd need to work on that.

"You bought us ice cream at the park and I'll get your tea. Let's go." He reasoned, motioning for the blond to follow him out of the kitchen. He knew if he had to wait too long his attention would drift back to his work.

The blond amiably followed the brunette out of the house, both having asked Mokuba if he wanted to go to which the boy cheerfully declined.

Said boy was now watching the two leave from his second story bedroom window. He snickered, his cell in hand. "Ha ha, yeah, I totally thought he could get Nii-chan to stop working with that—I don't care if your other self had his doubts." The boy looked wistfully as the two disappeared from sight as they left through the gate, two bodyguards slowly trailing them. "Yuugi, tell him he owes me ten hundred yen, by the way."

---

Notes: Does anyone know if Jounouchi's Japanese dialect is Kansai-ben? I looked it up, but I couldn't find anything on it. Or was the dubbing done by 4kids just that bad?

Also, I hope that made sense. I felt maybe the plot was too vague, but it was sweet to write and there wasn't any clarification I could think to add. ;;;