Venturing
His fingers danced over the keyboard, punching key after key, pushing out letters, numbers, words, and sentences across the screen. The physical action of typing did not abide the emotions running rampant in his mind.
Seto decided when he reached his bedroom that the mutt was indeed his worst enemy.
No one, besides Mokuba, could tell he was tired. The occasional darkness beneath his eyes and the amount of coffee he drank routinely meant very little about his actual fatigue. He was tired, yes, but he hid it so well, no one could notice.
That is, until Jou shattered his self-proclaimed vanity onto the floor and stamped on it with his goofy, lopsided smile. How dare the mutt think he knew him! No one knew him, even his own brother, to the point they could say something to describe him as nonchalant and smoothly as he did. It perturbed him to no end that his fatigue was noticed, and not just seen, but noticed by a person he held rank above.
Seto's typing increased as he mulled over the mutt. Why had he let the mutt go anyways? After all, he knew his secret—that the mask of emotions he kept bottled up came to the forefront ever so often—and it wasn't like Seto to allow such a sin.
He was Seto Kaiba. He was the emotionless multimillionaire with an incomprehensible expression adorning his face. There was no one to decipher him based from his outward appearance.
But then, there was Jou, now his greatest enemy, enjoying his cereal like he owned the roof he ate under.
Seto contemplated whether to return to the kitchen and reprimand the blonde for something that was said more than thirty minutes ago, but he felt himself frown at the action. If he made the trip down the stairs back to the mutt, it would raise questions as to why he didn't respond to what was said immediately afterwards, not half an hour later. It meant that the great Seto Kaiba had thought about the conversation, reflected on it, and finally had an answer—after thirty minutes—to the words exchanged.
There was no way Seto was about to endure the stunned look from Jou before he burst into laughter, either with his mouth or his eyes. Either way, Seto wanted Jou out of his life already. Firing him seemed like a great option, but the truth dangled in the air. Without Jou, he knew that he would have to hire somebody, and as much as he didn't want to admit, the mutt was someone he could trust.
Jounouchi Katsuya was somebody Seto Kaiba could trust.
The statement seemed to echo off the silent walls, laughing at Seto's thoughts. Seto completely stopped typing, bringing his hands to chestnut hair to smooth down the messy locks of brown. The action calmed him, an action he seldom acted, but he recognized the anxiety building up inside his chest at the sudden amount of emotions entering his system.
This was the first time in a long time—or maybe ever—that Seto felt more than anger, sorrow, and irritation. He was relatively calm, however, the days filled with Jou as his employee drastically changed his thoughts. He could feel the puppy's emotions filter into his own body, and to Seto, that wasn't to his liking. Hence, the blonde was now his enemy, peeling away the guards and bars that the CEO held in front of himself.
It was less than a week ago that he was injured. It was only a few days ago that Jou became his employee. It was over thirty minutes ago that Seto realized how much the puppy really cared about Honda.
Everything was happening too fast, and Seto was beginning to get used to it.
It was a horrible thing, but it needed to stop.
Seto stood up, saving his documents and shutting down his computer in the process, before he made his way out of his room. The decision was clear.
Everything needed to stop being so confusing, so emotional. Seto needed some levity in his life, and Jou was the source of his chaotic thoughts. Seto descended the stairs quietly, quickly arriving at the kitchen.
It surprised him to no end to see the puppy slumped over on the counter, his eyes closed as he breathed steadily and heavily. Frowning, Seto neared him cautiously, quickly realizing that Jou still gripped his cereal spoon in his hand tightly. The bowl, with its contents gone, was a few inches from Jou's serene face as the blonde snored soundly, one arm beneath his head as a pillow.
Who the hell falls asleep eating cereal? Seto asked himself, shaking his head in simple disappointment. He watched Jou sleep a little longer before he made the decision to clean up after the sleeping form. He placed the bowl into the sink. He grabbed both the milk carton and the cereal box, but gasped in horror as he waved the cereal box in disbelief.
The cereal box was mostly empty.
Seto growled in further irritation. The mutt managed to eat almost a full box of cereal—in actuality, his favorite cereal—in one sitting. Seto was more worried about Jou's eating habits versus his favorite cereal being gone. It meant that Jou's lithe form could hold more than he appeared.
Once Seto returned the milk and cereal to their rightful places, Seto turned to look at Jou, who managed to stick the spoon in his mouth. It was rather cute, the brunette decided wistfully, his lips almost pulling into a soft smile at the sight, but he pushed the idea away.
Seto dreaded his immediate future. It involved carrying the slumbering puppy up the stairs and into his bedroom to avoid Jou's possible departure from the earth if he were to tumble out of the chair. The thought of a dead body in the middle of his kitchen made Seto cringe inwardly. He needed to avoid such a situation if he could.
Pushing the chair back to provide enough room to lift the blonde into his arms, Seto quickly hoisted Jou into his arms and turned to head out of the kitchen. It felt strange, having someone in his arms, as Seto exited the kitchen and made his way up the stairs. The only time he did this for anyone was his younger brother. The CEO simply wouldn't allow the younger Kaiba to sleep on the cold floor in the living room. It was simply unbecoming. He wasn't used to having someone he hardly knew breathing softly below him, his heart racing slightly at the contact of Jou's body against his chest.
Seto finally reached the top of the stairs and turned towards Jou's room, hoping to hurriedly end the strange contact between him and the blonde. He quickly entered Jou's room and made his way towards Jou's bed. He frowned at the messiness his employee displayed called his bed. The comforter was a mass of cloth against the sheets covering the mattress. The blonde's pillows laid limply off the bed as though Jou forgot they existed.
As quietly and gently as possible, Seto deposited Jou onto his bed, hoping that the puppy wouldn't awaken at the foreign movement. He pulled the comforter over Jou, relieved at the fact that his employee didn't wake up. The brunette wasn't sure how to respond to an awoken Jou.
Once the puppy was secured beneath his own comforter on his own bed, Seto left the snoring blonde. He went to the door, and throwing one more glance towards the slumbering young man, opened the door to leave.
"Seto…"
He turned at his name being called.
Did Jou just call his name?
Why would he call his name?
Confused, Seto raised an eyebrow towards Jou's direction. He watched the blonde turn onto his side and snuggle closer into the pillow.
"Thanks," came the murmur before the snoring continued shortly after the word, leaving Seto perplexed and rather uncomfortable.
Was the puppy awake the entire time?
Chapter 12: Jou wonders why Seto keeps his distance.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far! I'm still building the story, so that's why the one-sentence chapter summaries are so vague.