A/N: I return! This is all Jounouchi. Also, in case anyone's curious, Chevron Guy is Master Sergeant Norman Walter Davis Harriman. Aka, Master Sergeant Walter Harriman. He does indeed have a wife an two sons in canon. The details are not, except for in this fic.

Couple quick things: First, Jounouchi can canonically use a yo-yo as a weapon. This was demonstrated effectively in the original manga and maybe Season 0. Can't remember if Season 0 went that far or not. Second, Jounouchi thinks/talks about some things in here that may be uncomfortable but are, by and large, canon to YGO. Just FYI.

Just as a reminder: Lantash is Martouf's symbiote and Selmak is Jacob Carter's symbiote. I know that can be hard to keep track of. Sorry.

Goa'uld Translation:
*Kel sha - No direct translation, but has been used as both a familiar greeting and as an acknowledgment such as "by your will"; in this case, Kaiba uses it as a familiar greeting

Chapter summary: In which Jounouchi hates being left out, realizes he might actually not mind Kaiba as much as he used to, and ends the day in a very good mood.


29: First Prime and Chevron Guy

Jounouchi grumbled and paced. He got it. He did. He just wasn't fine with it. Why would he be? He'd been kicked out.

Damn Kaiba.

Damn if the guy wasn't right too. Fuck.

He let his head thunk back against the wall of the walkway leading from the control room to the hallway nearby. He couldn't hear anything going on in the conference room even though he desperately wanted to. Every instinct screamed at him to listen in, learn what he could, and pass the information on to Yugi. Maybe it would help Yami remember who he was.

But then he remembered Kaiba's sharp words.

"If he remembers too soon, he will die."

And yeah, Jounouchi didn't want that.

He thunked his head against the wall again and stared out at the inactive Stargate. Chapstick-aye, his ass. It had been awesome. Hell, Jounouchi would gladly borrow the pun and declare the thing had literally been out of this word. But now it was turned off and Jounouchi was bored stiff and useless.

At least he had his yo-yo. When Yugi gave it to him, Jounouchi had been surprised and uneasy. He hadn't touched yo-yos since his gang days. He'd missed them though. He'd been practicing to make sure he hadn't lost his touch. Yugi's encouragement and awe at every new trick just fueled Jounouchi's excitement. It also helped him calm his racing mind and gave his hands something to do when he needed to fiddle. The fact he could use it as a weapon was just a bonus.

"How old are you, kid?"

Startled, Jounouchi caught his yo-yo mid swing and looked up. The airman who spoke was an older man with graying hair and big, round rimmed glasses. He'd been the one to operate the Stargate when the aliens arrived earlier. Jounouchi had mentally dubbed him Chevron Guy because he kept calling out stuff like "Chevron blankety-blank encoded." He seemed nice, but Jounouchi had been tricked before.

"Sixteen," he said, tucking his hands and yo-yo in his pants pockets. "Why?"

Chevron Guy blinked in surprise. "Sixteen?" he gasped.

Jounouchi shrugged. "Yeah. What's the big deal?"

"You're only in high school," Chevron Guy said. "How did you get involved with a Goa'uld?"

Huh. Good point. That probably was weird.

"I…"

What was he supposed to say? They met Kaiba when Yugi defeated him in a duel, then again when Kaiba tried to kill them and Yugi defeated him, then again during the whole Duelist Kingdom mess, and now they're kinda-sorta on friendly terms? Heh. Yeah freaking right.

On second thought.

"Some crazy lunatic kidnapped Kaiba's brother," Jounouchi said. "He didn't like that so he tracked the lunatic down. Me and-" He bit his tongue and started again. "I was already there playing in a tournament when Kaiba showed up. Brought some new holographic tech too. Whooped my butt with it. Asshole."

He'd get Kaiba back for that one day. He swore it.

"Anyway, we found out why he was there and tried to help." He winced. "Took some work, but we managed. We've been on…" he hesitated, "decent terms ever since."

Chevron Guy frowned. "Was it Setesh?" he asked.

"Hm? Naw," he replied, waving off the suggestion. "It was before that."

"Oh."

Well, this was awkward. Damn freaking Kaiba for kicking him out.

"How did you become his First Prime then?" Chevron Guy asked.

"Uh, heh." Despite his unease, Jounouchi smirked. "Would you believe me if I said he asked?" Judging from the look on the airman's face, it was doubtful. Jounouchi snickered. "He did. Though, granted, I kind of asked him for his help first."

He glanced back up at the conference room before coming to a decision. He wanted to protect Yugi, and he would, but in order to do that he needed more information. The fact Kaiba had let him sit in on as much as he had and learn as much as he did made it clear moneybags expected Jounouchi to pass everything on to Yugi. And since these people were technically allies, and they'd seen a lot of weird stuff, there was a chance Jounouchi's story might not sound too far out there.

"A friend of mine got captured by Setesh," he said, noticing the way Chevron Guy sat up straighter at the mention of the alien's name. "Kidnapped is more like," Jounouchi grumbled. "We were at a gaming convention when some of Setesh's cultist came in and… I don't really know how to explain it. My friend was fine one minute, then going with them the next."

He shrugged. "I didn't notice until they were already leaving," he continued. "I followed them to the complex but the gate was locked so I climbed the fence. Thought I was actually getting somewhere." He grimaced. "Then I saw the guns."

Chevron Guy winced sympathetically.

"They were big guns," Jounouchi said, pulling his yo-yo out and toying with it. "Military grade. The kind I've only seen in movies." He sighed. "So I went to Kaiba and asked him for help. The guy's insane but in a genius sort of way. He's also tried to kill me before and broke into an island on lockdown filled with trigger happy goons who were out for his head and kidnapped his brother, and almost got away with it. So I knew if anyone could break into Setesh's place and get my friend out without getting caught," he shrugged, "it'd be Kaiba."

Weird. Chevron Guy didn't look so good. What'd Jounouchi say to make the guy uncomfortable?

"Did it work?" the airman asked.

"I mean, yeah," Jounouchi said, scratching his head. "He wasn't happy about it, though. Anyway, he told me about the whole alien-in-the-head thing right before we broke into Setesh's place." He pointed to his temple significantly. "Actually, that was later, but that's when he told me he was an alien anyway. Told me to call him Set but to expect Setesh to call him Nephthys. Also warned me about the brainwashing toxin." He shuddered. "Man, whatever Setesh did to Kaiba back in the day, it must've been some messed up shit."

Chevron Guy frowned. "I thought he worked for Setesh. That's what the Tok'ra told us," he added when Jounouchi gave him a look.

"Yeah, Kaiba said something like that," he said, shaking his head. "I was going to tease him about that but…" He glanced back up at the conference room he'd been kicked out of -yes, he was still sore about that- and winced. "I probably won't anymore."

Chevron Guy turned in his chair to follow Jounouchi's gaze and something in his eyes sharpened. "What happened?" he asked.

Jounouchi scoffed. "Nothing much. Just the good old lord-betrays-allies-by-leading-them-directly-to-the-guillotine type of thing," he said dryly. "I don't understand everything, but I got the gist of it. Kaiba hates Setesh and I don't blame him one bit." He bit his lip. "I just…"

He looked back at Chevron Guy and wondered if he should really be talking about this. The airman would probably hear it all later anyway and Kaiba wasn't keeping it a secret so there wasn't any real reason not to talk about it. And damn it, Jounouchi needed to vent to someone who at least understood this whole mess better than he did. Who knew, maybe he could finangle some more information out and put the pieces he knew he was missing together. Or at least get a better picture of what was going on.

Kaiba was not Jounouchi's friend, but the guy wasn't as bad as he used to be. Not since Yami blasted the guy with that Penalty Game thing. Twice. He used to be homicidal, now he was just insane. There was difference.

Maybe it was an alien thing.

Licking his lips, Jounouchi rolled his yo-yo between his hands before toying with it again and speaking. "Look man," he said, waiting for Chevron Guy to look back at him, "I've only ever seen Kaiba scared, like legitimately scared a couple of times. Each time, he'd been about to lose something important. The first time, it was his sanity. The second and third times, it was the hope of ever seeing his brother again. Scared," he scoffed at his own wording. "Fuck that. He actually looked terrified. He threatened to kill himself if he lost a duel."

He swallowed and looked away when Chevron Guy's eyes widened in astonishment. "I know it doesn't sound like much," Jounouchi admitted. "It was just a game. We all thought he was crazy. Who threatened to jump off a cliff just to win a game?"

Kaiba.

Jounouchi swallowed thickly. "But then we found out why and it all made sense." He sighed. "Still think he's crazy, but it's the kind of crazy that makes sense once you know where he's coming from." He wrinkled his nose and swung his yo-yo back into his palm. "Sort of."

He shook his head and pointed back up to the conference room. "What I'm trying to say is every time Kaiba was terrified, there was a damn good reason to be. When he went into Setesh's hellhole with me, he wasn't just terrified like I'm-not-going-to-win-this terrified. He was I'm-going-to-live-through-this-and-wish-I-was-dead-every-second-of-it terrified. I used to be with the yakuza. I know that look. I've seen it before."

Hell, he'd probably made that same face himself more than once.

"Whatever Setesh did to him?" Jounouchi didn't want to think about it. "I don't have to know. I saw the way that creepy bastard looked at Kaiba. I'm not the smartest guy in the room, I'll be the first to admit that. But I'm not that dense."

He shuddered and ran his hands over his face, careful not to let his yo-yo get tangled in his bangs. "And he still went in there to help me get my friend out of there because I asked him to."

And dear god was that one hell of a revelation.

"So yeah," he said. "When he asked me to be his First Prime, I said yes."

Jounouchi could fight. He'd spent years fighting on the streets trying to make what little money he could to survive with his drunkard of a father a useless couch potato. He'd rather not fight, but he wasn't afraid to throw a fist at something if it was needed. Yugi wasn't happy with his habits, but if it kept the squirt safe then Jounouchi would do it.

Kaiba asked him to be First Prime. He'd asked. Not commanded or demanded or stated as fact. He'd honest-to-god asked. Then he'd come to their hotel room here in Colorado, explained the finer details of the position, and asked again. Play bodyguard and confidant to Kaiba, pass information on to Yugi, keep Yugi safe from any threats that might come up. Honda and Anzu could keep an eye on Yugi when Jounouchi wasn't there in person and if something did happen, Jounouchi would probably know almost immediately because of his luck and his clairvoyance.

Clairvoyance. So that was a thing too apparently. Anzu was the most skilled out of their little group but it turned out Honda and Jounouchi had a limited form. Unfortunately, their skill was locked on Yugi alone. According to Kaiba, that skill plus Jounouchi's luck were weapons that could double as shields.

Were Jounouchi and Kaiba friends? Aw hell no. But they weren't enemies anymore. They were… Friends-with-limitations? Cautious allies? Something like that. They both wanted Yugi safe but had different methods of doing it and different enemies to protect him from. What the hell. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Even if it was a stupid, wings-for-brains, dragon-loving idiot of a alien rich boy.

And Chevron Guy was staring at him.

Awkwardly, Jounouchi cleared his throat. "Sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to talk your ear off," he said, crossing his arms while still absently playing with his yo-yo in the ensuing silence.

"I have two sons," Chevron Guy said suddenly. "They're both around your age. One wants to join the military and the other wants to be dancer."

Jounouchi huffed a laugh. "Broadway or ballet?"

"Broadway," the man said, a proud smile on his face.

"I know someone like that," Jounouchi said. "She's been dreaming of traveling to America to dance on Broadway as long as I've known her. She'll do it too if it kills her."

"Preferably not," Chevron Guy joked.

Jounouchi tilted his head in agreement and laughed. Then Chevron Guy's smile faded.

"I can't imagine either of my boys in your position," he said and Jounouchi fell silent, a weight settling on his shoulders. "I'd rather die before letting them get stuck in your position."

Jounouchi shrugged self-consciously. "I'm not really stuck."

"Maybe not," Chevron Guy conceded. "But I get the feeling this isn't close to the first time you've seen things someone your age shouldn't have to."

And boy was that true.

"Do your parents know?"

Now that was just hilarious. It really shouldn't be but Jounouchi still found himself cackling like some kind of madman. Or Kaiba when he threw down one of his infamous Blue Eyes White Dragons on the field. Same thing really.

"Oh yeah," he drawled. "My parents. Ooh yeah, I bet they are so worried about me." He nodded dramatically. "Absolutely. Definitely. That's why my mom walked out on us and took my sister leaving me behind with a drunk-ass dad who can't even make it to the bathroom before puking on himself. Right. They did all that because they care about me."

Wow. He really should stop laughing because this wasn't even remotely funny. But damn it, he just couldn't. Until something smacked him on the back, hard. Then he wasn't laughing, he was coughing.

"What the hell?" he gasped.

Staggering, he looked up to a pair of bright blue eyes that somehow managed to look both concerned and judgmental at the same time. Jounouchi really needed to figure out how Kaiba managed to do that. It just wasn't normal.

Oh. Right.

"I leave you alone for a few minutes and you try to kill yourself by laughing," Kaiba said in a flat, unimpressed tone that rubbed Jounouchi in all the wrong ways. "Do I have to keep my eye on you every second of every day?"

"Fuck you, moneybags," Jounouchi spat, promptly coughing again.

He heard Kaiba groan in annoyance above him before his back was smacked again, not as hard this time. His coughing eased and he stood straight again.

"I'm good," he said, then swung his fist right at Kaiba's face.

Rich boy caught it with one hand and forced his arm down with his inhuman strength. Okay, Jounouchi expected Kaiba to block his fist like he usually did, but the show of strength just wasn't fair. Rich boy was just showing off now.

Kaiba hummed noncommittally. "Mm, so I see."

He released Jounouchi's fist and sighed through his nose. Then he turned to Chevron Guy who was standing now looking startled. When did that happen?

"Walter," Kaiba said. "Kel sha."

Chevron Guy started to take a step back before planting his feet and meeting Kaiba's gaze sternly. Strangely, instead of being ticked off by Chevron Guy's defiance, Kaiba actually looked amused, maybe even impressed.

"You guys know each other?" Jounouchi asked.

"Somewhat," Kaiba replied.

"You mind controlled me," Chevron Guy said.

Jounouchi's mouth dropped open. "You did what?" he gasped. Then, "Wait a sec. You can do that? Why didn't you do that to stop Pegasus?"

The glare he got for that was particularly vicious. "Why do you think?" Kaiba hissed.

Oh. Shit. The Eye. Damn it, he forgot.

"Besides," Kaiba added, his tone easing a bit, "it wasn't mind control in its truest form. More like hypnotism."

"You're not making your case any better," Dr. Jackson, stepping into view. "Wheeler."

Jounouchi raised a hand to halfheartedly return the greeting.

"Technicalities," Kaiba said, waving the subject aside and choosing to focus his attention on the two Tok'ra who also stepped into Jounouchi's view.

"Technicalities can make or break a treaty, you know," Jacob said.

Jounouchi was pretty sure it was Jacob anyway. It could be Selmak but the Tok'ra's voice didn't have that metallic hollow sound to it like Kaiba's sometimes did. From what Jounouchi had come to understand, whenever the symbiote spoke, they let their voices have that echoey quality while the host's voice sounded normal. Kaiba seemed to be able to change his voice on demand. There wasn't any evidence saying Selmak or Lantash couldn't do that too, Jounouchi just hadn't heard it happen yet.

He glanced at Kaiba who snorted and tucked his hands in his pants pockets with a sly grin. "They can also allow for things like the Tok'ra to visit worlds under the Protected Planets Treaty," he said.

Jounouchi's eyebrows shot up. There was such a thing? What was it? Something like the United Federation of Planets?

"That only affects the Goa'uld and the System Lords," Lantash said. Definitely Lantash because of the voice change.

"And yet here we are," Kaiba said.

Ooh, Jacob and Selmak did not like that.

"We are not Goa'uld," Selmak snapped.

Wait, what? That's not what Kaiba told him. The Tok'ra were a socio-political branch of the Goa'uld.

Kaiba scoffed and, judging from his expression, he was just as surprised by Selmak's words as Jounouchi was. His sharp blue eyes shifted to General Hammond. Geez, did everyone come down here? This room wasn't that big people.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Kaiba demanded. "I was told the Tok'ra were Goa'uld. Is that not true?"

"Technically," Maj. Carter spoke up from behind Dr. Jackson, "they are Goa'uld." She winced when a pair of offended expressions locked on her. "But they prefer to think of themselves as Tok'ra. Only Tok'ra."

"They prefer to remain ignorant then," Kaiba said, disdain dripping from his voice. "Then I have no further business here." Abruptly, he turned and started walking away.

"Wait!"

"I would rather deal with imbecilic megalomaniacs than a group of arrogant Goa'uld who would deny their own genetics," Kaiba snapped, whirling around in fury. "You, snake," Lantash flinched, "you demanded to know my queen. I demand to know the same. What queen was stupid enough to spawn arrogant excuses for children?"

"I would ask that you not insult her in that fashion," Lantash said, holding up both hands palms out in an effort to ease the rising tensions.

"Her name!" Kaiba hissed.

Lantash sighed and glanced at Selmak before answering. "Egeria," he said. "She was hunted and killed for her crime of creating us."

For a moment, no one spoke. Jounouchi wasn't the best at reading the atmosphere, but he knew when Kaiba was angry. There was just something about it that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The air smelled like lightning and Jounouchi shifted his stance to something more balanced and adjusted his hold on his yo-yo. Just in case.

Then Kaiba straightened and crossed his arms over his chest. The utter contempt in his gaze almost mDe Jounouchi feel bad for the Tok'ra.

"Egeria," Kaiba said, his voice dangerously calm like the moment he taunted an opponent before obliterating them with Blue Eyes. "Ra's second queen."

Okay. That didn't sound good. Wait a second. Jounouchi knew that look. He frowned and stared at Kaiba's glare more closely. Oh shit. That was the same glare rich boy shot at Yugi sometimes.

Rival!

Shit. Not good. Things seemed to be going so well earlier. What the hell had happened after Jounouchi left?

"These are the allies you choose to align yourselves with?" Kaiba said to the general in the same tone of voice he used to deride a duelist's strategy. "I thought better of you. If these imbeciles can't even acknowledge and accept their own lineage and genetics, then they are doomed to fail. Tok'ra," he said, addressing Selmak and Lantash directly, "as long as you deny what you are, you run the risk of succumbing to the same pitfalls the System Lords are guilty of. I will have no part in that. Come back to me when you actually start to think straight. Wheeler."

Without another word, Kaiba turned and stalked out of the room. Jounouchi took one last look at the people, tossed a two fingered salute at Chevron Guy, and followed behind.

"That went well," he muttered under his breath as he and Kaiba walked down the hall. No one got in their way. Jounouchi didn't blame them. Kaiba's current glare could probably melt a Navy Seal where they stood. Yeesh.

"It was starting to," Kaiba said. "Then their IQ reared its head and I had to leave the room before they dragged me down to their level."

Jounouchi snorted. "Burn," he snickered. "Eh well, whatever." He stretched, jumping and slapping his hand on one of the crossbeams lining the ceiling above his head. "We've got better things to do." He shot a smirk at Kaiba. "Like wiping the floor with your ass in Battle City."

Kaiba huffed. "There's no way you'll ever defeat me, Wheeler," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That's what you think."

"That's what I know."

"Whatever you say, Queen Nephthys."

Kaiba stopped in his tracks and Jounouchi paused a few steps ahead, turning back to get a good look at the dumbstruck expression on rich boy's face. It was utterly priceless. Man, he should've brought his camera.

"I will destroy you, Wheeler," Kaiba snarled, the shock not completely gone from his clear blue eyes.

"Didn't you know?" Jounouchi taunted, tapping the side of his nose and winking. "I have Lady Luck on my side."

Glacial blue eyes narrowed viciously. "And I have money and technology. The semi-finals stage of the tournament is going to be held on a blimp which will leave promptly. Any semi-finalist who arrives late will be automatically disqualified." He smirked. "I'll make sure you're late."

"What?!" Jounouchi cried, startling more than a few airmen and scientists within earshot. "Fuck you! That ain't fair!" Hold on. A sly grin worked its way onto his face. "You think I'm good enough to be a semi-finalist?"

That glare was all the answer Jounouchi needed. He couldn't be brought down from his good mood for the rest of the day.


A/N: This chapter is done in memory of actor Carmen Argenziano who played Jacob Carter/Selmak in Stargate SG-1. He passed away on February 10, 2019 at the age of 75. Rest in peace sir.