Yay! I'm back! Earlier than I thought and promised and without neglecting any work I still have to do!
Thank you again to all the people who reviewed my other fic, you rock!
So, here comes the new one:
Pairings: Seto/Katsuya; hints at Yami/Yugi, Bakura/Ryou and Otogi/Honda
Warnings: Shonen-Ai and a bloody nose
Disclaimer: A friend of mine suggested to kidnap Takahashi-sensei and make him work for
me. But I'm a very peacefull person, normally, so I won't do that. That means, as
sad as it is, I don't own it!
Dawning Emotion"I don't know how I let you talk me into this," Seto mumbled as he stepped out of the car. "Especially with so much work left to do!"
Mokuba just sighed, latching onto his older brother's hand to pull him towards the small game shop in front of them.
"It's good for you to see a few other things than just your laptop," the raven-haired boy said with conviction and added after a moment: "Especially people. You promised to be nice, so live up to it!"
"Hn," was all the response Mokuba got, but it seemed to satisfy him. He let go of his brother's hand to ring the doorbell, but was beaten to it by a certain blonde who unnoticedly had come up to the door as well.
"Hi," Katsuya said nonchalantly, smiling brightly.
"Mokuba?" Seto's voice had an undefinable edge to it as he snatched his little brother by the shoulders to turn him around. "Didn't you say he," Seto thumped at Katsuya and shot him an angry glare, "wouldn't be here?" His eyes flashed dangerously as he waited for an answer.
Mokuba fidgeted, grinning innocently at his brother. "You know, you could have figured yourself that it wouldn't be true. It is Yugi's party after all. And it would be nice if the two of you didn't fight for once! It's Newyears's Eve, what about your newyear's resolutions?"
Seto breathed in deeply to calm himself down a bit. This was definitely something he hadn't expected, although Mokuba was right that he could have guessed as much.
"We're going home."
"No," Mokuba whined. "You cannot do that! You promised to come!" Mokuba kept on tugging on his brother's jacket until Katsuya finally decided to speak after listening all the while.
"Ya know, Kaiba, it is not nice ta break a promise ya gave to yer brotha. Let's make a deal. I'm not going to bother ya as long as ya don't insult me. Dat's fair and Mokuba can have his fun at da party."
Mokuba smiled happily and instandly jumped to hug Katsuya. "Thank you, Jou! Come on Seto! You promised!"
Seto sighed heavily and crossed his arms over his chest. He glared all he was worth at Katsuya before he nodded, not saying a word.
"Now that that's settled, you could all come in. It's about time, you know."
All three of them jumped at the voice behind them, turning around wide-eyed. Yami chuckled and stepped a bit to the side in order to let them in.
"God, Yami! Don't do dat again," Katsuya said as he walked past him. "Ya nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Aw, was the poor mutt so startled?" Seto grinned as the other turned around, fuming. The billionaire dreaded the blonde's reaction to his remark and was disappointed when he didn't get one, although he would never show that, of course. Katsuya had just turned back around and left to greet his friends, but Seto got his arm slapped by a certain raven-haired boy, glaring up at him nearly as perfectly as he did it himself.
"For a genius, you sure forget fast," Yami said, walking past the two brothers and into the living room.
Seto growled, clenching his fists. How dare that stupid spirit!
Mokuba pulled Seto with him into the living room as well. Seto just slumped down in a chair, crossing his arms over his chest, no greeting to the other people around, glaring at anybody who would go near him, even at Mokuba for making him stay there.
After a while the other guests, who were apperently only Ryou, Bakura, Otogi, Honda and of course Katsuya, started talking and laughing animatedly with Yugi and Mokuba. Tea was with her new boyfriend and Malik and Marik were not invited for obvious reasons. How everybody was able to put up with the insane spirit of the Milleniums Ring, however, was an enigma to Seto. Especially the shy white-haired boy himself, who happened to be the holder of the ancient item.
He kept staring at the same person when his all-time rival dared to settle himself down on the arm of HIS chair.
"What do you want," Seto snapped, not averting his gaze that lingered on a certain blonde beauty.
"Nothing in paticular. Just wondered if you're up to a little game," Yami said, imitating Seto as he crossed his arms over his chest as well.
"Hn. As if you had a chance to win a game against me," Seto snorted.
Yami just chuckled, looking the other over. "Hm. This one you are going to loose, sure as hell."
"Interesting. Mind telling me what this shit is about," Seto asked, irritated by now.
"Of course not," the ancient Pharaoh stated calmly. "I challenge you to get Jou on his knees in front of you and make him bark like the dog you keep calling him. But all that without a bloody nose."
Seto jerked his head harshly to look at Yami. "What kind of twisted joke is that? Are you trying to kid me, or what?!"
"No. I just bet you cannot achieve that," Yami answered, still calm but smiling mischievously.
Seto fumed, anger flooding through him. "What should I get out of that dumbshit?" Seto asked in a concieted tone.
Yami chuckled again and Seto could clearly see the spirits eyes darken for a moment, indicating he was talking to Yugi through their link. A few seconds later, Yami pointed towards the little group across the room.
"Mokuba, could you help me, please?" Yugi asked, smiling brightly towards Seto. "We're running out of snacks."
Seto's eyes widened and he turned to glare at Yami again. "You cannot do that! That's blackmail! Just for a stupid bet," he growled.
"Calm down and don't make a scene. You'll get your brother back. But if you loose, you're going to stay on our roof for an hour."
Seto looked at the spirit in bewilderment. "An hour on the roof? Are you stupid or something?"
"Don't you dare question me! Get going! You've got an hour and a half to get Jou on his knees. Don't waste your time." Yami grinned, leaving the still confused boy.
***~***~***~***~***~***
Seto followed Katsuya into the kitchen, trailing a few steps behind the slightly smaller teen, hands shoved into his pockets. He figured it would be the easiest way to accomplish something while he stayed near the other boy, for obvious reasons. And he would have a better few of his eyes, that flashed so beautifully when he was angry, too.
"Do you need some help?" Seto asked, leaning against the counter.
Katsuya jumped, nearly dropping the plate in his hands as he turned to his side to see deep blue eyes staring at him.
"Um …, no, I think I can do dat on ma own, Kaiba. I'm not a little child, no matter how ya think 'bout it."
"Right."
Katsuya looked at Seto again, a perplexed look on his face. "What did ya just say?"
"I said you were right," Seto replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Did ya hurt yer head or do ya have a fever or somethin'?" Katsuya asked, clamping a hand over the other boys forehead, earning him a glare. "Geeze. Ya don't hafta glare at me. It's just not like ya to agree with me."
Seto just shrugged again, leaning over to grab the empty plate from the counter. His hand brushed lightly against Katsuya's, causing both boys to blush and turn away. Seto didn't know what this strange feeling about the blonde was, but he would definitely have to figure it out.
"Kaiba? … Earth ta Kaiba, ya still in dere somewhere? The others are waitin' for their snacks." Katsuya winked a hand in front of Seto's eyes until the other blinked a few times, coming back to his senses.
Seto mentally berated himself for spacing out in front of the puppy, immediately putting up his cold act again. "Just thinking about something, none of your business."
Karsuya rolled his eyes, snatching the plate out of Seto's hands and refilling it. "Yeah, right. If ya still want to help, ya could come with me get some soda. It's out in the garage," he said after dropping the plate on the table in the livingroom, earning him a few raised eyebrows for 'talking' with Kaiba.
Katsuya opened the backdoor, about to step out when Seto spoke. "You should be careful, puppy. It's quite …"
"Shut up, Kaiba! First, I'm not some dog and second, I said I'm not some …" Katsuya didn't have time to finish his sentence when he stepped out of the door and slipped. He started to wave wildly with his arms, trying to regain his balance, but failing miserably. He closed his eyes, awaiting the hard impact with the cold ground. But it never came. Two strong arms encircled his waist, pulling him close to a warm chest. Katsuya slowly cracked one eye open, glancing up into two ice blue orbs.
"I wanted to say that it is slippery tonight," Seto said indifferently.
Katsuya blushed crimson, stumbling a few steps back, away from Seto. He looked to the ground, trying to hide the evident blush gracing his soft cheeks. "Um, …sorry. Just been a bit incautious, I think," Katsuya said, laughing self-conciously and scratching the back of his head. "Thank you for catching me, though, Se- … Kaiba."
Seto raised a delicate eyebrow, eyeing Katsuya, trying not to smirk. "The puppy should have listened to its master," Seto sneered.
Katsuya looked at him, anger and another emotion Seto couldn't quite put his finger on glinting in his dark, brown eyes and he opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it again. The second time that evening Seto hadn't gotten an expected and awaited reaction out of Katsuya. Said teen had just turned around and stalked over to the garage, returning a moment later with a few bottles in his hands. Two of them, he shoved into Seto's arms as he passed him, otherwise stricktly ignoring him.
***~***~***~***~***~***
"How's it going, Kaiba? 42 minutes left," Yami said, grinning from ear to ear. "Not accomplished anything yet, as things seem. You're going to loose," he mocked.
"Hn. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Seto answered, not looking at his interlocuter. "But you are very biased when it comes to winning something. Just wait and see."
Yami chuckled, pushing away from the wall he had been leaning on and walking over to the others who were gathered around a small, low table. They were pouring hot, liquid lead into cold water, took the strangely shaped pieces out and thought about anything it could resemble. Ryou had brought it with him, telling them it was something Europeans did. It was supposed to be a forecast as what was to happen the next year.
Seto kept watching from his chair, the other's laughter only faintly reaching his ears. Mokuba was with them, but neither Yami nor anybody else, it seemed, would let him do anything alone. But he appeared to be happy and oblivious as to how Yami tricked Seto into that stupid challenge. But Mokuba was not the only person Seto's thoughts kept wandering to. A certain blonde, cheerily laughing with his friends and munching on anything he would get between his teeth, kept invaiding his mind. The cute way he blushed after Seto held him in his arms, scratching his head in embarrassment. How hard he had tried to ignore Seto's snide remarck about being a dog, his nontheless, and the strange look he had given him. But Katsuya failed miserably. Seto caught every small glance directed at him from Katsuya due to his own looks. He wondered what it was about the teen that had him so wrapped up. Seto sighed heavily, no answer to that problem seemed to present itself on a silver platter or just pop up out of nowhere. And thinking about it just appeared to confuse Seto even more.
He decided that he needed to use bathroom. Slowly getting up, he took a last glance at Katsuya before disappearing around the corner.
On his way back, however, he bumped into the one person who had been distracting him all evening. Katsuya fell to his knees, trying to gather all the dropped cockies back into a bowl.
Seto's eyes widened as the situation registered in his mind, all earlier thoughts forgotton. A smirk played on his lips as he looked down in front of him. "Oh, sorry, pup."
"Huh? Em, no problem, didn't watch where I was going," Katsuya replied, a small blush yet again gracing his cheeks. He was sure he would never see the end of Seto's teasings about this evening. There were just too many stupid things happening and they still had a good one and a half hours to midnight, enough time to embarrass oneself to the bones. Katsuya sighed, picking the last few cockies up from the floor.
"Um, Jou?"
Katsuya looked up at Seto, surprised to hear his 'name' out of Seto's mouth. "Hm," was all he brought himself to say, eyes locked with the brunette's.
"Would you do me a little favour?" Seto asked, crossing his arms over his chest, trying to keep himself from grinning.
Katsuya looked even more confused, eyes wide and eyebows raised. He just nodded, not trusting his voice at the moment.
The smirk from a few moments ago eventually crept back on Seto's lips. "Bark like a dog!" he ordered.
Katsuya's eyes widened even more, if that was possible, and he scrambled to his feet. "YOU!!" he screamed, anger and … disappointment flashing in his eyes, Seto realized before Katsuya's fist connected hard with his face. All went white in front of his eyes for a moment, his back crashing into a wall before he slumped down on the ground. Katsuya stormed past him, wearing a hurt expression and Seto could hear the door to a room upstairs be slammed shut. He winced at the bang, slowly bringing a hand to his bleeding nose.
"Nii-san!" Mokuba was by his side, a worried look on his face. "What happened?"
Seto glanced over at Yami who tried not to break down laughing. "Nothing, Mokuba. Just a misunderstanding."
The younger Kaiba looked at his brother in disbelieve, but dropped the subject, helping Seto to his feet.
"Here," Yami said, offering him a tissue. "We wouldn't want you to bleed all over yourself, would we? Your expensive cloths would all be ruined."
Seto snorted, grabbing the tissue and making for the livingroom where everybody else retreated to. But a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Seto wheeled around angrily, glaring at Yami. "What?!" he snapped.
Yami just smiled, pointing towards the door. "You sure you didn't forget something important?"
Seto's eyes widened. "You can't be serious about that!"
"Oh yes, I am," the ancient spirit answered. "There is a ladder leaning against the roof beside the back door. You lost, now get lost!"
Seto glared at his rival all he was worth, grabbing his coat and leaving for his icy seat on the rooftop, swearing under his breath.
***~***~***~***~***~***
"Jou?" Yugi tried for the hundredth time, all the others standing behind him, waiting. "Jou, please come out. Nobody's angry at you for punching Kaiba, not even Mokuba."
… No response.
Yugi sighed, turning towards his friends. "Great, really. We didn't plan that, did we? How are we supposed to ever get him out of my room again?"
Everybody shrugged, trying to figure out a possible way.
"Who would have thought they would be so thick headed after all. I mean, how dense can somebody be?" Ryou said after a while.
Honda nodded. "Yeah, it is so obvious they like each other. Why can't they just realize it themselves?"
"You are one to talk," Otogi inquiered, causing everybody else to laugh and Honda to blush.
"Maybe we should just leave Jou alone for a while, Yugi. He'll eventually calm down," Yami suggested, wrapping an arm around Yugi's shoulders for reassurance.
"Yami's right. He'll come out when he's ready to face the world again," Honda said, smiling encouragingly at his small friend, still blushing a bit.
"Fine. But I still think this whole challenge thing was a bad idea. We should have tried a more decent way," Yugi said, slowly turning to leave.
"Don't worry, Yugi, "Mokuba said cheerily. "You would never know any way with those two. They're too stubborn for their own good."
***~***~***~***~***~***
Katsuya sighed, watching as the small white cristalls tumbled down from the dark, grey nightskies. He hadn't meant to hit Seto, but that was too gross. That 'request' was definitely one step too far.
Katsuya sighed again, his elbows resting on the windowsill, his head in his palms. What was he to do now? Go apologize? … Never! It was not his fault after all! … Or maybe a bit. He didn't have to overreact like that and nearly break the other's nose. Or maybe he broke Seto's nose? They'd always been fighting rather with words than with fists and he should have expected something like that, knowing him for quite a while now. It was Kaiba Seto after all, nobody can change from one moment to the other.
"But he was nice just 15 minutes earlier," Katsuya told himself, closing his eyes. He did regret the punch. And that his friends weren't angry at him was always a plus, he thought, although he ignored them.
He slowly stood up, one last time glancing out of the window into the snowcovered world. He unlocked the door, opened it and walked down the flight of stairs towards the livingroom.
"Jou!" Mokuba screamed, jumping up to hug him. "Everything alright with you? What happened?"
Katsuya smiled down at the small boy. "Everything's fine, kid. Nothin' really happened, just a misunderstanding."
Everybody smiled to themselves, remembering the same words were spoken not so long ago.
"Thank ya guys fer not being angry with me fer ruining da evening. You're the best friends eva." Katsuya smiled, lightly ruffeling Mokuba's dark hair. "Em, where's Se- … Kai- … Seto? Did he leave?"
Yami giggled, tears of joy starting to form in the corners of his eyes.
"What's so funny?" Katsuya asked, confused.
"No-Nothing," Yami forced out between fits of laughter.
Katsuya raised an eyebrow, looking at his other fiends who were smiling as well. "Ha, Ha! Come on, tell me already!"
Yami couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing. He fell to the ground, holding his belly, Honda soon following.
"Yugi?" Katsuya cast him a questioning look.
"Look, Jou, Kaiba sort of lost a bet."
"A bet? What has dat ta do with it?"
The giggles and laughter of the rest of their friends seemed to increase even more until Yugi shot Yami an angry glance. The ancient Pharaoh tried to compose himself, but to no avail.
Yugi sighed, continuing albeit the loud background noise. "You see, he's sitting on out rooftop."
Katsuya looked bewildered, opening his mouth to say something.
"Don't ask," Yugi said. "I have no clue as to what it was about and why Kaiba has to sit up there of all places. You will have to ask Yami later. It was his twisted idea, for what ever reason he did this. … Or maybe you don't ask him about it, you see how he is now." Yugi thumped in Yami's direction, rolling his eyes and slightly shaking his head.
"Why do you want to know where Seto is?" Mokuba piped up between the two friends, startling them.
Katsuya scratched the back of his head, something he seemed to do for a habit lately, and grinned innocently. "Just thought I'd go apologize fer hitting him. I didn't break his nose, did I?" he asked a bit flustered.
"No, I don't think so. It was just bleeding a bit," Yugi said, smiling reassuringly.
Katsuya let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, a sigh of relief. "Okay, dat's good. I think I'll go den."
Yugi and Mokuba nodded, following him up to the door and closing it behind him. Yugi gave Mokuba a thumps up, running back to the livingroom. "Hey! Time to come down to earth again! You have to help me!"
***~***~***~***~***~***
Katsuya climbed the rungs of the ladder carfully in order not to slip. When he reached the last few steps, he could make out Seto near the chimney, obviously craving for a bit of warmth in the cold night. Katsuya cleared his throat, trying to get Seto's attention.
"What do you want?!" Seto snapped, not gracing Katsuya with the smallest glance.
Katsuya stared in front of himself, not daring to look at the other boy, fidgeting with his hands and slightly shuffling with one foot. "Um, I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "For the punch I mean."
Seto didn't look at him. "Good for you! Anything else? If not, get lost!"
Katsuya snorted. "Geeze! What's it with ya?! I apologized! Ya know, it was yer fault in da first place!"
Seto's head snapped up to glare at Katsuya. "My fault?! Ha! What do you expect me to do?! Crawl on my hands and knees and beg for your forgiveness?! What are you dreaming about at night?! Now go away, mutt! Vanish into thin air!"
Katsuya frowned, stomping with his feet as he turned around to leave, hurt again. "Fine! What eva! I'm … " he trailed off.
"Leaving! It's leaving, mutt! Is your vocabulary that small?!"
"Oh shut up, Kaiba!" Katsuya shouted, plopping down near the edge of the roof.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?! I said 'get lost'! Don't you speak my language, or what?!" Seto snapped, jumping to his feet.
"I'm not going ta break my neck because you can't behave like a civilized person, Kaiba!"
"What?! How dare you?!"
Katsuya turned his head to look at Seto, motioning with his hand towards the spot the ladder was supposed to be standing. "If you are keen on breaking yer bones, go ahead and jump down dere."
Seto stopped in mid-motion, eyes widening at the obvious absence of the only safe way down. "Great! Just wonderful!" he shouted, slumping down against the chimney again.
"I could think of spending my time in better company as well, Kaiba," Katsuya scoffed. "Ya know, my friends are down dere in dat warm house, having fun at yer expense."
Seto just snorted, looking the other way, while Katsuya raised an eyebrow, doing the same and they fell silent.
After a while, however, this tensed silence was broken by clattering teeth. Seto looked over at the blonde, realizing that he didn't wear a jacket and was cowered into a ball. He mentally cursed himself for being blinded by his rage and ignored the comment about 'the warm house'. Now his puppy would definitely become sick. Seto's eyes widened at his own thoughts and he vigorousely shook his head to shoo them away. He looked away from Katsuya again, trying to ignore him, when the first fireworks exploded into the nightsky.
"H-H-Happy New Year," Katsuya mumbled, barely loud enough for Seto to hear, his whole body shaking.
Seto couldn't take it any longer. "Come here," he said demandingly.
"What?" Katsuya asked, eyes wide.
"I said come over here, you're freezing to death."
"As if you cared," Katsuya snorted, hugging himself closer for warmth.
Seto sighed, standing up and walking over to where Katsuya was sitting. "You sure are stubborn," he said, pulling the slightly smaller boy up and with him back to the chimney. He unbottoned his coat, pulling out of one sleeve to put it around Katsuya's shoulders. "Come closer, stupid. I'm not going to bite, that's your job, puppy," Seto teased.
Katsuya just glared at him, doing what he was told anyway, desperately craving for some warmth. Seto pulled him close to his chest, closing the coat as far as possible around both of them.
"Thank you," Katsuya offered, snuggeling closer to the heat emanating from the person next to him.
Seto could still feel Katsuya shivering against him and tightened his hold on the blonde, nearly pulling him onto his lap.
They stayed like that, not fighting or talking, in complete silence, for quite a while, how long exactly, neither knew. But during that time, Seto's head had sunken to rest against Katsuya's soft, silky hair, his arms encircling the other's waist, holding him close. Katsuya's one hand was resting against his chest, like his head, whereas the other had a firm grip on his shirt around his lower back. Neither of them dared to move or do as much as sigh, afraid to break the fragile, peaceful moment, being content with it. But the time had to come and Seto was the one to shatter the odd silence. He spoke barely audible, ever so soft.
"Look, the sun is rising. The first sunrise of the year."
Katsuya lightly turned his head, looking at the first rays of light spreading from the horizon. He nodded a bit and smiled to himself, enjoying the moment.
"Katsuya?"
Katsuya tensed a bit at hearing his first name coming from the lips of the one person he hated … no, he never really hated Seto. He was the one person he liked, right from the start, but was too thick headed to admit it. He pulled back a bit from Seto's grasp, to see his face, surprised to looke into soft blue eyes. Their faces were so close, mere inches apart and Katsuya could feel Seto's warm breath softly caressing his skin.
"Please don't punch me again," Seto whispered before closing the remaining distance between them, his eyes fluttering closed while Katsuya's widened a moment before doing the same. It was a chaste kiss, a soft brushing of lips, too short for both their likings. When they parted, Seto brought up one of his hands, brushing an unobeying strand of, in the morningsun golden glistening hair out of Katsuya's eyes, softly caressing his flushed cheek. They just looked into each others eyes, slowly smiles of agreement gracing their lips as they leaned in for another kiss.
From the ground the sound of clapping hands, cheering and whistling reached their ears, pulling them apart yet again. They turned to see their friends standing in front of the house, looking up to them, all of them smiling happily.
"It's about time you settled this!" Honda shouted, giving them a thumps up.
"Talking again, Hiroto," Otogi said, pulling his lover into a passionate kiss, causing everybody else to laugh.
Seto and Katsuya just looked at each other again, blushing beet red while untangeling themselves from one another as Yami and Bakura had brought the ladder back. They climbed down, joining their friends on the safe ground, laughing with them about Honda's own shyness. As they walked back into the house to celebrate Newyear all together, Seto wrapped an possesive arm around HIS puppy's waist, pulling him as close to him as possible. Katsuya leaned his head against Seto's shoulder, sighing contently as they walked into the livingroom.
Trailing back a bit, Yami whispered into Yugi's ear, smiling and planting a soft kiss on his cheek. "See, everything worked out after all."
***~OWARI~***
My attempt at a humorous fic!
Tared: -- Ha, ha, very funny! --
* glares at her yami * Thank you for shoving it under my nose! I know damn well I'm not funny!
Tared: * raises an eyebrow * -- Now who's the yami here? What's with the mood today? --
The result of a few hells of sleepless nights! Satisfied?
Tared: * just shruggs and walks away * -- Your problem, hikari. But go on and drive away the readers! --
* huggs her yami * You do care!
Tared: * shruggs her off * -- No I don't! Now go away! What did you write? 'Vanish into thin air!' --
* glares at her yami's retreating back * I cannot do that, you can, stupid!
Anyway, thank you for reading!!!