14 August 2014 - 11.42

Boop! I'm going to try and make a longer chapter for you guys. Character and plot development!

Kapitel Dreizehn

The sound of dishes clinking against each other as Yami and Yugi cooked dinner alerted Jonouchi to the sensation of hunger. He felt his face grow warm as his stomach voiced its concerns and Kaiba made a noise of amusement.

"I'm assuming you're hungry."

"Erm, a bit yeah." Jonouchi stood up from the couch. "Are you hungry at all?"

Kaiba looked down at the watch on his wrist and let out a tired sigh. "I've actually made plans with my brother for dinner. I'd rather not disappoint him."

Jonouchi smiled at that. "Okay. That's okay." As Kaiba stood up, he noticed how tired the other seemed. "Tell Mokuba I say 'hello'."

"I will." He started to walk past Jonouchi, avoiding eye contact. "Have a good night. The same to your friend and my cousin there."

"Cousin? You mean Yami?" Jonouchi recalled Yami calling the Aequorea a species similar to his own. "I'll tell them. Anything else?"

A hand touched his own and Jonouchi felt a warmth flood his arm. He flinched and Kaiba pulled away.

"Wha-"

"It's all right." Jonouchi looked to Kaiba, who clenched his hand.

"What was that?" The blond looked down at his hand in confusion. The warmth had been sudden and had threatened to reach upwards, even up to his mind.

"... I'll explain later. It's something that I can't explain quickly." Kaiba looked up to meet Jonouchi's gaze, finally, and a dark passion, burning and churning, swam in the blue of Kaiba's eyes. It made him hold still, and Jonouchi could not break the gaze.

Why can't I even breathe, Jonouchi wondered. Something inside of him wanted to reach forward and possibly partake in activities that he and Yuugi watched whenever they traded VHS tapes. To partake in them with Kaiba suddenly seemed like a very good idea.

He could hear a door close.

"Jonouchi-kun, dinner is almost ready!"

Yugi looked over to Yami, who was setting the table. Bright red eyes looked up at him.

"I'll go get him. I think his mate left already."

Yugi nodded. "I'll finish the second okazu in a few minutes."

Yami walked into the living room, leaving Yugi to stir the fish on the heated grill. The vegetables were starting to brown into a nice color at the edges, sending up a rich variety of smells to his nose as the fish drove it upwards.

It was interesting, Yugi thought. Kaiba and Jonouchi had always been at odds with one another; could it have been a strange form of courtship from Kaiba's end? Yami certainly acted different from Yugi had wanted in an ideal situation, though it would also have been affection from a female human rather than from a male sea-jelly in a typical situation. Perhaps Kaiba's way of courtship was to portray hostility and even to test Jonouchi's mettle. He always picked on the blond for various things, but they had never been so serious that either man would be greatly offended.

'Opposites are said to attract,' Yugi thought, turning off the grill. He put on some oven mitts and grabbed the spatula to move the fish and vegetables onto a serving tray. He hoped it would be enough; they'd gone through all of the fish in the refrigerator due to Yami's excessive hunger.

He heard two sets of footsteps coming into the kitchen and he smiled.

"Jonouchi-kun, you can sit down if you'd like."

"... Sure, Yugi."The blond's voice was distant, not familiar. Yugi set down the grill and spatula to turn to Jonouchi, a bit disconcerted at the far-off look the other had.

"Jou? What happened?"

His friend shook his head as Yami came close to take the serving tray and set it on the center of the table. "Kaiba and I just talked. We didn't really fight or anything like that. Just trying to get a bit friendly with each other." Jonouchi raised his hand and looked down at it, as though it held the answers to the world. "His hand is really warm."

Yami nodded his head in the airs of realization. "Did he pull away?"

"Yes."

Yugi could see Yami smile. "Don't worry then. It's good, means you're young and virile."

"H-Hey! I'm not ready for that shit!" Jonouchi's face turned bright red at Yami's laugh and negation, explaining that he was indeed teasing. He slumped down at the table, the chair he chose making a clattering sound. "What are we having for dinner?!"

Yugi chose his place to Jonouchi's right, as Yami sat down to Jonouchi's left. Yugi served himself fish, vegetables, and rice, thanking Jonouchi as the blond gave him compliments on the food. There was a large variety of food, much of vegetables having come from the icebox and the fish-

"When'd you get this fish?" Jonouchi spoke with his mouth full of rice and fish. Yugi laughed at the sight as his friend was almost inhaling the food.

"When you and Kaiba-kun were talking, Yami started the rice and vegetables while I went to buy the fish." He looked up to the clock that sat behind Yami. That had taken about an hour... "Wow..." he mumbled, unheard by either man at the table.

Dinner passed peacefully, with idle chatter and strange questions for Yami - "Do you have gills as a jellyfish?" - galore. The food was eaten in earnest, fish and vegetables disappearing. Only a little bit of food was left over that Yami was eyeing with longing in his eyes.

"Yami, are you still hungry? Is it an Aurelie thing?" Jonouchi was slumped forward onto the table, his stomach full. "I ate two whole plates of this food, and you're looking at the rice like you're starving."

"Hardly," Yami replied, biting his lip. Something flashed in his eyes that Yugi didn't quite interpret in time before it disappeared, curiosity showing in Yami's eyes as Jonouchi explained some of the things that he could eat and never be sick of and that maybe he could show the both of them how to make a dish or two when they had time. He looked up to the clock again and remembered how long the spring break would last.

"We have school in three days."

Jonouchi paused his speech. "Shit! Did we have homework?"

Yami laughed again, and Yugi wondered just what the Hell he was laughing about and how long he could keep hearing the sound, that laughter that seemed so young, that made his heart want to burst.

The next few days passed by without incident. Kaiba had gone home with little to complain of. As long as Jonouchi had thought of their arrangement, he had no reason to worry. The discussion had been sound, even the small talk that he usually avoided; it called to question, however, why he had never completed his mating before.

As he typed on his keyboard, matching the rises and trends of the past week's stocks with the decisions he had drawn up the fortnight before, Kaiba let his mind lull into mundane tones, the Aequorea side of himself swimming in the silence of his office. Lights reflected across the screen, and electricity was alive in the air. He smiled at the thought of Jonouchi seeing him like this, in his element and having power at its source.

A knock came to his door.

"Big brother."

Kaiba sighed. "Mokuba. It's late, and we have school tomorrow. Why are you here?" The boy, the boy he chose to raise as his sibling, came in, head lowered slightly at an angle that only told Kaiba "disappointment."

"You forgot again."

A movement of his jaw had Kaiba remember.

"The movies..." He looked to the clock and saw that they would have only ten minutes before the feature began. It took about twenty minutes to arrive, and the trailers were not always so lenient on time.

"Should... We can go another day!" Mokuba's eyes, green and eager - too hopeful, even - were wide and round, but they held a hesitance that had Kaiba rethinking of things. It was too much like the hesitance of kindness, like Jonouchi had displayed when he was complimented. A whiplash of attitude would ruin any hopes for meaningful conversation.

"Let's go." Mokuba had nothing to say in response, but he smiled as the laptop password was typed in, files were locked, and a ring of car keys were snatched up in his older brother's hand.

As they walked to the elevator and proceeded to descend towards the parking garage, Kaiba turned to his brother, who began to babble about the plot of the movie. Why would a woman be seeking to kills puppies for a coat?

"Mokuba... I told you, about what I am."

It was not a question, just a statement. He knew that Mokuba would remember what he was.

"Um, yeah." Mokuba looked down to his feet. "Why?"

"I found him, the person I was looking for."

Mokuba let out a sound of excitement. A smile bloomed on the small face and Kaiba felt himself returned a small grin. "Really?! That's great!" A spark of hesitation was in the boy's eyes. "What will happen now?"

"I don't know." He reached out and ruffled the boy's hair, noticing that for once, the gesture was protested. Mokuba seemed more pensive than anything. "But we'll still be together, Mokuba. I promise that."

"Is it Jonouchi?"

Kaiba felt a spread of warmth on his cheeks, just as the elevator let out a ringing noise to signal their arrival at the parking garage. Mokuba cheered, beginning to talk about he saw it coming from the past months of teasing and picking fights with the blond. He talked about how it would be great if they could have a family, a nice family where they could not be alone and Mokuba could help with little babies that Jonouchi would be good with and Seto teaching them how to rule the world like kings and queens from a small age.

"We'll see about that," he murmured, pushing his key into the door's lock and trying to push the thoughts of birthday parties and little clothes out of his head.

His hands were warm against the steering wheel.

20 Sept 2014 - 1346: Finally... It is done.

Okazu - There are two dishes that accompany the main dish of a Japanese dinner - the rice. The first is usually meat and the second, beans (or other protein) or vegetables.

Mokuba wants to go see 101 Dalmatians (1996, live action).