I'm trying to do this at a quick and even pace. Please enjoy.

-AW

Chapter Fourteen

Jonouchi woke up when he felt Kaiba's body heat leave his back, but he didn't open his eyes until he heard the bathroom door close quietly. He sat up, looking around the room as he stretched. Somehow, the place didn't seem much less creepy during the day. He hoped Kaiba didn't take too long in the bathroom.

He also hoped they'd be no ugliness between them after last night. Probably not, since Kaiba didn't kick Jonouchi out of bed, but Jonouchi wouldn't know for sure until he tried speaking to Kaiba. Just waiting for Kaiba to get out of the bathroom ate his nerves, not only because of the suspense, but also because he smelled like last night and hated feeling so grungy.

Finally, the bathroom door opened. Kaiba stepped out with a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair appearing messy from likely towel drying. Jonouchi met Kaiba's eyes, trying to read his neutral expression. It was never easy with Kaiba.

"Good morning," Jonouchi greeted, immediately feeling stupid when he felt Kaiba finally take note of him, "You look nice this morning."

That was an understatement, of course. Kaiba almost always looked good, if not straight alluring. Especially with his hair slightly wild, skin gleaming from the hot water, his torso muscles exposed... It was like being confronted by a Calvin Klein model first thing in the morning.

"You could have told me to get up and I would have," Jonouchi offered, averting his eyes as Kaiba walked passed him, "I'm actually a bit of a morning person, believe it or not."

Rolling his eyes, Kaiba used a smaller dry towel to finish his hair.

"You were still asleep," answered Kaiba dryly. "I wasn't going to wake you. You looked worn out."

Jonouchi knew he usually slept pretty hard. He wasn't easy to wake up, and when he did, sometimes he'd be pretty violent about it. More than once he'd smack a friend in the face because they tried shaking him awake and Jonouchi woke up thinking he was being assaulted. Maybe it had something to do with his wild home environment...

Although Kaiba wasn't quite ready to push him out the door just yet, Jonouchi prepared to bolt just in case. He bit his lip, avoiding Kaiba's general direction while staring at the door.

"I'll order us some breakfast," Kaiba offered in a low voice, "If you aren't ready to slip out just yet. Afraid Mokuba's going to walk in on you in here or something?"

"What?" Jonouchi looked over at Kaiba, his eyes wide before he saw him slip on a pair of boxers. Face immediately heating up, Jonouchi turned and shook his head violently. "I wasn't even thinking about Mokuba, you know. I was just surprised that you could be so thoughtful... Can I use the shower?"

He didn't want to be rude and he also didn't want to smell. That was no good. His hair was probably a royal mess, and he felt clammy. Of all embarrassments, Jonouchi certainly didn't want Kaiba thinking that his hygiene wasn't a priority in his life.

Kaiba shrugged. "No one's going to stop you."

Jonouchi grinned at him, standing and rummaging through the bed before deftly slipping on his boxers. Even though they were both males and public nudity wasn't a huge deal in their culture, he still didn't want to re-expose himself first thing in the morning. For some reason, the idea of Kaiba being able to take a glance at his ass on the way to the bathroom tugged on Jonouchi's mind a little too much, and curbing that thought from becoming a reality seemed like the best idea.

Walking to the bathroom a bit stiffly at first, Jonouchi turned on the shower to let the water warm up while he checked himself in mirror. He looked like a mess, which was not a surprise, but he didn't look bad. At least, Jonouchi didn't look beat up. He still remembered the way he'd looked the morning after his first time with Kitamura, and for some reason he always expected to see that same image in the mirror after sex. It didn't make any sense, but he couldn't shake it.

Going into the walk-in shower, Jonouchi was immediately greeted by several shower heads and a steady rush of warm, steaming water. His wild yellow hair flattened against his head, and Jonouchi felt the sweat and remains of dried bodily fluid washing off of his skin. He used Kaiba's shampoo, perfectly happy to swipe his stuff so Jonouchi could smell like him. Kaiba always smelled good.

When he was done washing, Jonouchi grabbed the nearest towel and scrubbed at his hair before wrapping it around his waist and walking into the bedroom to find Kaiba.

"Are we eating downstairs?" he asked, looking around to see where his clothes had fallen.

"In here," Kaiba answered. "It's not very fancy. Just miso soup, rice, and grilled fish. I try to keep morning meals simple. I'm not that hungry, and usually it's what the cook prefers to put together. It's on my writing desk if you want it."

Then, getting up, Kaiba went into the bathroom again. He snagged the blow dryer from under the sink and plugged it in before drying his hair with a comb to assist the process. He seemed very particular about it, and it wasn't until it was perfectly dry did he stop and examine his face.

The way Kaiba picked at his face, Jonouchi could tell that Kaiba didn't like blemishes. He was examining himself all over, from his face down to the sharp angles of his chest. In the light of the bathroom, Jonouchi thought Kaiba looked more fair-skinned than usual, almost iridescent pale. His neck was almost bruised from the night before, but it wasn't too bad. Barely noticeable with the turtleneck on, and Kaiba seemed pleased with his appearance.

Jonouchi thought about making a comment, but Kaiba was too quick. After leaving the bathroom clean and preened, he sat on the bed and started picking at his portion of the food. Jonouchi was finally halfway dressed. He'd put on his jeans and a shirt in Kaiba's absence. Kaiba started eating the fish and rice before appearing as if he was thinking about conversing again

"I don't want my brother knowing about this," he said, not looking up in Jonouchi's direction. "I expect discretion."

"That makes two of us," Jonouchi replied. He was horrified at the thought. If Mokuba knew he and his brother were fooling around... no, that would be bad. Too awkward. "I'm not gonna tell him, or anyone else."

He was thinking about actually just leaving already, since Kaiba was dressed and looked ready to start the day. It was unlikely that anything else was going to happen that morning. Which was preferable. Distractions were not desired, especially so early in the day, and Jonouchi no longer felt so trapped in the fog of his sex hormones to even think about entertaining a tryst first thing in the morning. He needed to get focused, anyway. It wasn't the weekend yet, so he wouldn't have any hours at his job. That meant he'd need to spend his day looking for some sort of employment.

Jonouchi idly rubbed his neck while he thought about that. He felt like he wasn't really getting anywhere in his life, since everyone was turning him down so abruptly. He'd had a couple of interviews, but only because he'd charmed his way into getting them. The people who interviewed him hadn't even had spaces open. They were just trying to be polite. Most of the economy was in the shitter, like most of Japan, but Jonouchi didn't have loving parents to keep supporting him like most other young adults his age.

He looked across the room at Kaiba. At least he'd gotten somewhere with him. Didn't exactly fix his financial issue, but it at least made Jonouchi feel better emotionally. Kaiba Seto, a multi-millionaire, had slept with him. That was kinda cool, in a purely egotistical kinda way. Jonouchi stopped himself from snickering.

Kaiba was still getting dressed for work in the bathroom. Peering over from the bed, Jonouchi could see his reflection in the mirror. He deftly slipped his belt through the pant loops and buckled it, then rolled down his shirt sleeves and buttoned the cuffs before straightening out the fabric. Almost laughing at the face he made while observing himself in the mirror, Jonouchi wondered about Kaiba. Like how he was on the verge of judging himself should he have fallen short in any aspect of his appearance.

How had Jonouchi never thought Kaiba was queer before?

"Are you done getting gussied up for work?" Jonouchi called, unable to resist grinning. Kaiba was too funny, when he wasn't trying to be. The way he did his hair and checked his face, picked meticulously at his clothes...

"I have to set the example for my staff," Kaiba replied bluntly, giving Jonouchi the stink eye before returning back to his preening.

Jonouchi doubted that everyone who worked for Kaiba was quite as willfully appearance-conscious as he was, but he didn't comment. Let Kaiba put on his face. It made him even easier on the eyes. Most of the Domino Business District looked pretty well-polished, almost to Tokyo standards, anyways, so maybe Kaiba wasn't being that extra for caring so much.

Jonouchi polished off his breakfast, and he set his plate aside before standing and getting the rest of his clothes on. He was ready to leave. Kaiba seemed like he was about to walk out the door, and Jonouchi wanted to make sure he was out well before Kaiba left. He needed to get to town as soon as possible.

He felt his phone vibrating in his pants pocket, fearing it was another booty call from Kitamura. Seemed a bit too soon for that. When Jonouchi checked, it was just a short message from Kitamura saying a very generic "good morning" and "like be back in a few days". As if Jonouchi really cared. He put his phone away, relieved. Jonouchi didn't really want to see Kitamura at the moment. Not after what had happened the night before.

Honestly, Jonouchi could admit to himself that if it wasn't for the money, he really wouldn't bother seeing the man at all.

"Can I get a ride to town with you?" he called to Kaiba somewhat anxiously, who was still in the bathroom messing with his hair. "If you don't mind me just sticking by for a little while longer."

"If you don't have a problem being dropped off where you found me," Kaiba agreed as he took out some vitamin pills from the cabinet and swallowed them, "And next time you just want to "talk", find a way to call me. Don't go lurking around the parking garage at night again..."

Kaiba left the bathroom and went into the closet, finding his leather pair of boots and sitting down on the edge of the mattress to put them on before getting up and walking out the door to grab his briefcase from the study. Jonouchi almost thought he was about to be left , he shot up off the bed and rushed to catch back up with Kaiba. The house was huge and he did not want to get lost in it and lose his ride back downtown.

Jonouchi was a bit slow to catch up with him, but he made it outside before Kaiba's car was pulled up to the driveway. He felt a little disoriented. Kaiba didn't say anything, and soon they were both inside the small sports car, bound for the city.

Frowning, Jonouchi realized he hadn't seen Mokuba at all that morning. Was that a good thing? Maybe. It would be bad for them both if the kid caught them in Kaiba's bedroom, but at the same time, Jonouchi felt a little weird about being at the house without the kid around. Realizing Kaiba had actually allowed him to come over, for reasons unknown, was strange.

Beides, Jonouchi promised not to tell anyone about it. As if anyone would ever believe him, either. Officially, they still disliked each other just short of hate. Unofficially, Jonouchi wasn't sure what Kaiba thought of him. A good distraction? Who knew besides Kaiba himself.

When they stopped at the parking garage, Jonouchi unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car. When Kaiba joined him, he hesitated, not sure what he should say. Would just saying goodbye and waving be too rude? He wasn't sure what was the correct way to act after last night. Maybe something had changed, despite Kaiba's claims that nothing would. Or was that just wishful thinking?

"Thanks for the ride," Jonouchi offered, "I'll probably see you around..."

That was pretty definite, so long as Jonouchi was still hanging out with Mokuba. Which he intended to do, whenever the kid didn't ditch him for girls. Jonouchi wasn't in any position to complain about being ditched for the sake of getting laid, anyways.

"Give it a month," snorted Kaiba, locking his car and picking up his briefcase, "Mokuba's gonna be grounded for at least that. Unless you find some other reason to go sneaking into my study again..."

He smirked before walking off, heading towards the entryway into the KC building.

"Right."

Jonouchi snorted before walking in the opposite direction, toward the shopping district. What kind of parting was that? Was Kaiba inviting him? He didn't know if he should be excited or to proceed with caution. It was a rather flirty thing for Kaiba to say to Jonouchi, anyways. That had to mean that he was okay with what had happened the night before. Maybe even looking forward to more of the same.

However, Jonouchi's fleeting common sense advised that fooling around with Kaiba while 'dating' Kitamura was a very, very bad idea...

Jonouchi wondered immediately how he'd even manage to juggle both. He insisted that he didn't want to go all the way with Kaiba, if only because he knew Kaiba was right about complicating things... but Jonouchi couldn't help but fantasize over the opportunity to. Kaiba was really, really attractive, almost all the time. Just being able to kiss him was more exciting than sex with Kitamura, and Jonouchi wasn't sure what to do with that knowledge.

And if it had some meaning, would it be so terrible?

He shook his head to brush off his thoughts. That probably wasn't the best prospect to have dancing around in his head. Kaiba was definitely not going to change, and made it clear that he wouldn't be persuaded. Odds were, he wouldn't go much further than the non-penetrative sex they'd already had. Jonouchi wasn't going to trouble himself thinking he was ever going to get much more than that...

Sex with Kaiba. Not something that he should have on his mind while he was looking for a job.

At least Jonouchi's clothes were decent, since he hadn't slept in them. He wasn't going to stop at home to change again. No point taking the train all the way downtown just to ask for applications. The ones he was wearing weren't exactly business-like but they were nice clothes, in Jonouchi's opinion. It didn't really matter anyways, since most of the jobs he was applying for were entry-level positions.

He was passing through the market plaza when he heard a familiar voice calling his name and turned, eyes wide. However unlikely that she was around, Jonouchi didn't think he could mistake Anzu's voice for someone else's.

It was definitely her. How long had it been since they'd seen each other? Years. The last contact they'd had was over the phone, and even then it had just been talking about jobs and school before they both got too busy.

"Anzu?" Jonouchi backtracked to where she was standing, weaving through the crowd. "What are you doing here?"

Nearly tackling him with a hug, Anzu was anything but reserved about her excitement to see him. It was a major surprise, just running into Anzu like that after she'd moved out of Japan.

"I thought you had that internship in New York?" Jonouchi stammered, "What happened to that?"

"Oh," Anzu laughed, shrugging a little as she let go of Jonouchi. "I got through the internship, but I realized that professional dance wasn't all it cracked up to be. It wasn't going to work out, so I came back home."

Jonouchi smiled. Anzu didn't seem heartbroken about it, but the news was disappointing. She really had wanted to make it on stage, but maybe some dreams weren't meant to become true. Still, Anzu was a smart girl, so she'd be alright.

"So I'm back!" Anzu declared with a beaming smile. "I thought everyone would be gone by now" She huggd Jonouchi again, pulling back to smile before collecting herself a little. "Everyone seems to have moved away."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened," Jonouchi laughed. He'd definitely noticed the absences of his friends, and the resulting loneliness that came with it. "The only person who stayed besides me is Honda, and I only hear from him here and there. I'm glad you're in town, though. I haven't seen you in forever."

"Well," asked Anzu, "What have you been doing lately to amuse yourself?"

"Uh," Jonouchi blanked for a moment. What had he been doing? Aside from scrambling to keep a roof over his head and fooling around with Kaiba? He didn't even want to get started on how he was supporting himself...

"I've been spending time with Mokuba, mostly," Jonouchi smiled a bit nervously, "I haven't been completely alone. Oh, and I'm searching for jobs again."

"Spending time with Mokuba huh?" asked Anzu, cocking an eyebrow, "I didn't think you two were close. I mean, I knew how horribly you got along with Kaiba, and Mokuba seemed to have it in for you too sometimes, so I didn't think that you two could actually manage to hang out. That's cool, though. He's a sweet kid."

"When he feels like behaving, yeah," Jonouchi snorted, "Did you want to go sit somewhere? I'd rather catch up somewhere while not standing in the street."

And hopefully someplace less noisy. The downtown sector wasn't an ideal place for catching up with an old friend. Jonouchi didn't want to talk about personal stuff in public, and they might well come up if Anzu did as she usually did. Which was, of course, to make him feel comfortable into talking about all his personal business until he told her everything and she carefully but relentlessly pass judgment on all his actions.

Jonouchi could handle it. She did it because she cared, after all.

They sat in some outdoor seating attached to a restaurant. It was quiet, fairly secluded, and Jonouchi was already hungry again.

"Surprisingly, Kaiba's been decent lately," Jonouchi told Anzu in a brilliant understatement of the truth, "So spending time with Mokuba hasn't really been a problem."

"That's surprising, he had it out for you."

She laughed before looking back at the waitress, getting a chocolate shake for herself. It was good weather, still warm enough to enjoy the frozen drink. Once it came back, Anzu sipped it from the straw, watching Jonouchi intently.

"Did you see Sigfried's convention?" Anzu asked, "I heard it came to town and was a major bust because Kaiba wouldn't approve his duel disk designs like his team had initially promised. It was quite a scandal, I heard. Apparently Sigfried's company nearly went bankrupt over it. I mean, who would try pulling a fast one on Kaiba, of all people? He doesn't get intimidated."

Jonouchi remembered it.

"I hear stuff on the news, and I know Mokuba was there," Anzu continued. "I saw him in some pictures."

"I didn't see the convention, but I was invited to the after party, believe it or not," Jonouchi replied. He tried not to let himself make weird faces when recalling that night. It hadn't been the best time of his life, that was for sure. "Mokuba asked me to come. Sounds like you heard correctly, though. Sigfried was trying to downgrade the system to make it cheap, and Kaiba wasn't having any of it..."

Kaiba had never broken a sweat over Sigfried. The guy just couldn't compete with Kaiba's genius. Even when Sigfried allegedly had the Dueling Network on the verge of collapse, Kaiba disappeared for ten minutes and returned only to announce that the system was functional again. Never once had he taken his German "rival" seriously.

"Actually, I saw Otogi at the after party for a moment," Jonouchi noted, "He was...well, his usual self."

"What exactly does that mean? Chasing everything with two legs or just being a show off?" Anzu questioned.

Otogi was known, specifically among his circle of friends, for being rather open about his sexual conquests. For someone in a rather stringent society, Otogi was incapable of keeping his sexual interests to himself. Anzu didn't like him too much, he didn't appeal to her middle class sensibilities. Making a sour face, she rolled her eyes.

"Eh. Jonouchi, you know I don't really like him," she admitted, looking back up shyly from sucking on her straw in thought, "Not that he's a bad guy, but... he's kind of a manwhore."

"...Yeah," Jonouchi chuckled, hesitating to agree. He wasn't sure if he had any moral high ground there. "I was never that fond of him, either. This time Otogi was just showing off, though. And he got all out of shape when someone else hit on him, too. I guess he can't take his own medicine."

"No, probably not..."

Otogi was certainly an interesting person, though. Jonouchi knew that. He had a growing company in Japan, and even Yugi started helping with promoting it by playing Dungeon Dice Monsters in the United States. It was nothing like Duel Monsters, or even Capsule Monsters, which younger kids still enjoyed playing, but it had a steady following.

However, the game wouldn't grow big without some major backing, and now it was becoming well known that Otogi was trying to woo Kaiba Corporation for the investment. But Kaiba was disinterested; Jonouchi certainly knew Kaiba's more personal reasons for refusing to help Otogi, and it was becoming more evident in the news media that Dungeon Dice would get nowhere outside of the cult obscurity it had gained without some giant gaming corporation helping to make it more mainstream.

It was unlikely to be Kaiba Corporation. And Otogi, stubborn as ever, refused to give up.

"Do you talk to Otogi at all?" asked Anzu, still sipping her drink. "Or anyone else from high school, for that matter?"

"Not as often as I should," Jonouchi lamented, "I've been pretty busy, and I don't want to waste everyone else's time, either. I get in touch with Honda sometimes and Yugi once in a while. Otogi and I mostly run into each other by accident."

Jonouchi wasn't a fan of Otogi, though. Otogi hd always been a disrespectful prick, since day one. Most of the time Jonouchi struggled to consider him a friend, and Otogi was an iffy one at that. Still, Otogi didn't mean anyone any harm, which was better than a lot of other characters Jonouchi had met in life.

"I've been talking to the Kaiba brothers mostly," Jonouchi reported, "And going places with Mokuba. He seems to like hanging out with me."

"Talking to the Kaiba brothers?" emphasised Anzu, cocking an eyebrow, "You mean Kaiba actually talks to you?"

"Yeah, he does. It's pretty unexpected. He's not exactly itching for a chance to hang out with me, but we've had a few conversations lately that didn't end with me wanting to jump him."

Well, that wasn't completely true. Jonouchi wanted to jump him in an entirely different manner. Not that he was wrong for feeling that way; he'd take Kaiba using him as a fuck buddy over getting insulted and dismissed by him any day. That probably wasn't the best thing to tell Anzu, though. Maybe he should be more careful about what he was saying to her.

"Is he doing okay then?" Anzu inquired.

"About as well as before," Jonouchi shrugged, "He's still getting along with Mokuba. Spoiling him, as always. He's still on top as far as his business is concerned, but Kaiba's got some personal shit bringing him down. But he always struggled with that, as I'm sure you remember."

They all knew enough about Kaiba's background and behavior to safely say he probably had some issues to work through. Jonouchi didn't know if he had any right to reveal how deep Kaiba's depression was to Anzu, so he decided not to talk about it anymore. It seemed like privileged information, and he couldn't imagine Kaiba telling her himself if he was there.

"It's funny watching him at home, though... He's still vain about his appearance," Jonouchi laughed to himself, recalling watching him dress that morning, "He hasn't worn any eccentric outfits lately, but he still dresses to the nines. Not a hair out of place..."

"Since when did you notice how Kaiba dresses?" snorted Anzu, rolling her eyes before grinning a little, "It's a shame he's sad or whatever, but what can we do about it? He won't talk to anyone about anything, and sometimes I really think he hates us, Jonouchi."

"He doesn't hate us," Jonouchi corrected, remembering the night he'd accused Kaiba of just that. Maybe he shouldn't just take his word for it, but considering what had been happening lately, it was probably true that Kaiba didn't hate any of them. He didn't even hate Jonouchi, if he ever had. Kaiba was just a dick. "I think Kaiba's just really defensive. He hasn't been bad the past couple of times I've seen him, but usually he puts up a bitter vibe. It's not personal. Or, so he claims."

"Hmm... sounds like you've been talking to him quite a lot then," Anzu noted. "Are you all finally friends now?"

"Ha," Jonouchi laughed, a bit more forcefully than was natural, "I don't think so. Let's not believe in miracles just yet..."

Jonouchi looked away, averting Anzu's gaze while glancing at his own half-full plate of food he'd forgotten about. Usually he and Kaiba were at each other's throats, because Jonouchi was trying prove some sort of a point to Kaiba, who would just shit in his face before stalking off like he wasn't worth the time of day. That had changed toward the end of high school, after Yugi won the Battle City tournament, but they never really got along.

It was kind of sad when Jonouchi thought about it. Was Kaiba just that terrible in high school or did Jonouchi contribute a lot to it? Err, he didn't want to think about his own shitty behavior he'd displayed as a teenager now that he thought about it.

"I'd like to see Kaiba, maybe," mused Anzu, "I wouldn't mind that. He's just so hard to talk to sometimes, it's damn frustrating. I feel like I'm always yelling at him about something."

"He's not so bad now," Jonouchi muttered, not sure if he should be sticking up for Kaiba. It would probably come off as being weird, but he couldn't exactly sit and agree with Anzu completely, either. "Not when he tries to be sociable. He might be a little open to talking to you if you said hi to him. As social as he gets, anyway."

Kaiba had always been less of an asshole to Anzu in the past. Even though she only really spoke to him directly when she was telling him off, he'd never snapped back at her for it. Jonouchi didn't know if it was because he didn't take her seriously, actually did take her seriously, or because she was a girl. He usually put up with her chiding, either with indifference or irritation. He wasn't nearly so kind to any males who decided to get in his way.

"Since when does Jonouchi Katsuya defend Kaiba?" teased Anzu, grinning wider as she moved closer to Jonouchi's face. "You seem different. Your clothes look new... And a little bit stylish. Have you been going through a lifestyle change?"

She was laughing, but she had no idea how close to the truth she actually was.

"Very funny," Jonouchi replied, only half-smiling as he stared at Anzu. He was in the middle of a very important decision: whether he was going to tell her the truth or not. He felt like he should (and frankly, it would be a relief to do so), but he wasn't certain how she'd react. It made him nervous. "You could say that."

Jonouchi was probably very evidently anxious. He really needed someone to talk to about shit, but he didn't want Anzu to get all weird about him.

"I, uh-" he paused and sighed, looking at the table before pulling himself together. Honestly, he'd dealt with worse. "I found out recently that I like men, so that's different."

"What do you mean you found out you like men?" Anzu asked, her face wrinkling up in confusion. "What are you talking about, Jonouchi? I thought you liked Mai and all those other girls from- that's doesn't make any sense! You used to flip my skirt in high school, and now you're telling me you might be gay?"

She was getting very flustered, and Jonouchi almost wanted to laugh. Leave it to Anzu to overreact.

"Since when?" She demanded.

"Maybe three months ago? It was a recent discovery," Jonouchi watched Anzu apprehensively. He couldn't tell if she was upset or just confused. Why shouldn't she be confused? Jonouchi certainly was, when he'd found out. He was still confused. He could hardly explain why he'd been into Mai or been after Anzu's panties in tenth grade.

"I don't really understand well enough to explain," he admitted, "I mean, I was into Mai, but... I didn't really want her, not like that. I thought I did for a while. I don't know..."

Propping up his head into the palm of his hand, Jonouchi was tugging at his hair anxiously. He'd barely put any thought into his motivations back then. He'd just kind of did stuff, either because he heard about it from someone cooler than him, or because Honda thought it was a good idea. Looking at women was what men did. Teenage boys tried to get tits whenever possible, so Jonouchi had to, right? It was a model he'd followed without knowing any better, and for a while, biology had been enough to confuse him into thinking that was his comfort zone.

"I was doing what I thought I was supposed to do."

"-what you were supposed to do?" Anzu paused before taking a long breath. "How can you be sure you're gay? Have you like... been with a man before?"

Jonouchi knew his face was red. He couldn't work down his embarrassment. It was a rude question, even if Jonouchi could understand Anzu's curiosity. He wasn't sure he wanted to let her know about his situation with 'his boyfriend'. Actually, he was rather sure he didn't want to tell her about that.

"I knew before then," he muttered a bit indignantly, "But yeah, I've been with a man before."

He couldn't even look at her. Maybe he'd be less embarrassed if it was a more innocent situation. But no, he was dating for pay with a man who thought they were in a relationship, and fooling around with Kaiba on the side. It wasn't as if Jonouchi could say he had a legitimate boyfriend. At least then it would be more respectable and he'd get over whatever embarrassment there was.

"I'm pretty sure I'd know by now if it was just curiosity..." Jonouchi continued in a low, hushed tone.

"Well...um...how was it? Is it like what they show in the comic books?"

"No," Jonouchi stated flatly. Anzu's damn comic books. How misleading they had been. "It's nothing like that. For one thing, I've never complained about it hurting all the time, and I don't cry like a girl..."

It didn't hurt badly enough to cry, even the first time. Certainly wasn't pleasant, but Jonouchi had dealt with the discomfort. The yaoi formula Anzu was used to was similar to regular porn, and all porn was rather misleading.

"I mean, I like sex, so I'm not complaining. But your comic books aren't very accurate."

"Well jeez, Jonouchi, I was just asking!"

Anzu was getting defensive. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at the ground for a while before Jonouchi sighed.

"I wasn't trying to scold you or anything," Jonouchi told her, feeling guilty for embarrassing her. It hadn't been an offensive question. They were friends, after all. "I just don't want you to think I act like one of those girly guys in your eromanga..."

He shuddered at the idea. Even when he'd discovered them back in high school, he'd thought the concept was ridiculous. It was kind of a joke that yaoi always had the same kind of formula where whoever was the receiver was began unwilling at the beginning and was having the time of their lives by the end. Almost like normal porn, only yaoi preferred to be over-dramatic and have more crying and bleeding.

That said, Jonouchi's only real knowledge about sex had been from porn. Anzu's eromanga included. He'd been thinking along those lines the first time, embarrassing enough. Afterwards, Jonouchi realized how wrong everything was. Maybe if he'd done some real research, he wouldn't have allowed Kitamura to have gotten away with doing half the stuff they'd one...

It was humiliating to think about.

"You're the only gay guy I know," Anzu said, looking up at Jonouchi, "I guess. I didn't talk much to the guys in my dance classes in New York, since my English was too tricky for them to understand. Although I'm sure there were quite a few.

"If you don't mind me asking then," she continued, placing her crossed arms on the table now instead, her face lighting up, "What made you realize that you were gay? Did you see Mai again? Or did Kaiba say something to you?"

The man was certainly observant, but Jonouchi didn't want Anzu bringing him up again.

"It had nothing to do with Kaiba, I figured it out on my own," Jonouchi replied, slightly offended. He didn't need Kaiba to tell him he was gay. How would that conversation even work? Jonouchi, you're gay as well as stupid. Just so you know. No, Jonouchi would not have reacted well if Kaiba had informed him of his own sexuality. Even if it was true. "I was by myself for a while, and I was starting to notice things. I didn't start spending time with Kaiba until after I already knew."

Seeing Kaiba again was awkward from the get-go. Suddenly Kaiba's attractiveness had an entirely new context. Or, the same context, but now Jonouchi was aware of it. It was alarming and highly disturbing at first, but the initial shock had at least calmed down since then. Even though it only complicated his life further seeing Kaiba now, Jonouchi couldn't pretend like he wanted it differently.

"He definitely noticed, though," Jonouchi snorted, "You know how he is. Kaiba didn't mention anything until he was sure, but he noticed."

"But he hasn't been mean about it, has he?" Anzu questioned. "I mean, if he has-"

"-Oh, no," Jonouchi felt heat rising to his cheeks again. Shit. He had zero control over himself sometimes. Why couldn't he control his reactions better? "It doesn't bother him at all. He teased me a little at first, but he doesn't really care."

That was an understatement, but he didn't think it was a good idea to tell Anzu that Kaiba was queer, too. And they were kind of having sex. That might be a bit too much.

Also, it was really none of her business, anyways.

"Good. It would be really mean of him to make fun of you for that, of all things..." Anzu paused before shrugging and speaking up again. "I guess you can't really help it, but I wouldn't want to have sex like that. I never understood it in the comics, I mean, how does it even feel good? It's a penis up where you poop."

"That's one way of putting it," Jonouchi snorted darkly. He was using every ounce of his self-control not to explain in graphic detail to her how and why anal "felt good". How would she even react to that? Badly. "It's not even like that. There's a lot of pleasurable sensations you can get from there."

Was he really talking about this? Jonouchi was hardly the best person to give sex education. Especially about the kind of sex he liked. Anzu didn't need to know about his particular tastes.

"You should try it sometime," he smirked, "I can give you plenty of pointers."

"Oh my god Jonouchi, don't even joke about that!" She turned all red in the face and tried to hide her embarrassment from behind her hands. "I'm not gonna do that. I don't even have a boyfriend, you pervert...

"If it feels good then, why do the boys in the manga always say it hurts?"

"Well," Jonouchi tried not to make any odd faces at the memory of his first time with Kitamura, "Because eromanga is just porn. It's not real. For one thing, they never really use lube, so... yeah, it's going to hurt. Lube is important. And patience. You can't just shove a dick in, sex takes time."

Tops in eromanga never seemed overly concerned with preparation. On the rare occasion that they did any kind of foreplay, they never used real lube and had zero sympathy for the bottom. Jonouchi honestly wished he'd had a better model to use before trying it. He should have done some research, but looking up how to have anal sex wasn't really something that occurred to him...

It never even occurred to him that he'd be in some sort of position to try it.

"I mean, it's not exactly painful, if you do it right. Might have some soreness the next day if you give them too much of a workout, though," Jonouchi snickered.

"I would have never taken you for a bottom, Jonouchi," mused Anzu, "I thought you were too...I don't know, manly for that."

"What-" Jonouchi didn't know if he should be more embarrassed or offended. Then again, it was the common perspective that the "girl" out of the two men was the bottom. He might enjoy being roughed up a little bit (within reason), but Jonouchi wasn't a girl. Never wanted to be one, either. "No, it's not like that. It doesn't have to do with how girlish someone is or isn'. It's just what I like doing."

That was embarrassing, and Jonouchi realized that maybe being so frank with Anzu wasn't such a good idea. He'd have to be careful with other people and try to make sure they didn't know what kind of sex he was having. How would he tell Honda or Yugi that? Maybe Yugi would get over it after some shock, but Honda... Jonouchi didn't even know if he'd look at him the same again if he knew. Anzu wasn't like that, probably because she wasn't male. Besides that, she really liked her yaoi back in high school, so some part of her liked it, too. Hell, maybe she still did.

"I mean," Jonouchi clarified, clearing his throat before looking out at a passing crowd of businessmen walking by, "Being top is all fine too, but it doesn't really come naturally to me. That's all."

More like, if he was top, Jonouchi couldn't have his hair pulled violently like he enjoyed or get smacked around a little from behind without a lot of flack. Nor could he get penetrated by his partner. Trying to be top just didn't even sound appealing. Butts were nice to look at, but Jonouchi didn't think he wanted to be inside one, just touching was enough for him...

He hoped he wouldn't have to reveal how much he enjoyed bottoming to anyone besides the person her was sleeping with. This conversation was too awkward. Anzu as probably weirded out now.

Thankfully, Anzu didn't seem so bothered once Jonouchi brought up New York. They quickly fell into easy conversation once more, Jonouchi relaxed enough to enjoy his rice burger and fries. There wasn't much that could distract him from eating, but apparently talking about Kaiba and sex could halt his appetite. Hopefully Anzu hadn't really noticed.

"Well, I gotta get going, but you should call me sometime so we can hang out," advised Anzu as she laid own money for the bill, "I'd like to see you again. We could get some dinner and have an evening to chill. Sound good?"

"Sounds good," Jonouchi said, finally finishing and standing up with her, a little disappointed to see her go. Not that he didn't still have things he needed to get done, but it had been nice to talk to someone he knew. Even if she had asked some embarrassingly personal questions. "I need to remember to give you my new number so we can actually text sometime."

Jonouchi's old service was shut off, since he couldn't even afford to pay the damn bill. So he was unfortunately stuck with Kitamura's gifted iPhone to his dismay. Jonouchi would have to transfer all his contacts if he didn't want everyone to think he was dead while dreading each time the damn thing went off thinking that Kitamura was trying to text him.

He really needed to get a decent paying job already...

After Jonouchi gave Anzu the new phone number they parted ways, Jonouchi left to return to his prior job hunting down the busy downtown district. He hoped something would be open, even crappy food service. He wasn't looking forward to another long day of wandering around town trying to get hired, but it would have to be done. At least he wasn't meeting with Kitamura.

If he got the right type of gig, he never would have to again.