Jou: I'm sorry, WHY are you so bent on torturing us.
Beverly: *shrugs* Hey, you're the one who's causing Seto torture.
Jou: Only 'cause you're making me
Beverly: *grins evilly* Hey, that's my joke.
Jou: Your job is writing. Can't you write something sweet and fluffy? I mean, for God's sake!
Beverly: I know! I tried to make it fluffy, but the best I can do is Save Me, and I had to make Bakura suffer because I thing chapters 2-6 were really boring. Minus you torture…
Jou: *sniff* I thought you liked me.
Beverly: Nah, Bakura's rrreally hot, especially this sticker I got in a pack of him, Marik is hot, kinda, and you're just…whatever
Jou: well, you stuck yourself with me…
Beverly: 1) that's only when you're Joey and 2) I just thought I needed a change of coupling.
Jou: Whateva
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Seto smiled slightly at the friendly blond nestled in his arms
"Seto…"
"Hai, what is it Jou?"
The teen raised his face and Seto blinked at the unhappy boy.
"Why'd you do it?"
"What?"
"When Mokuba asked you."
Seto frowned.
"He doesn't need to know."
"But he asked you outright and you lied. Damnit, Seto, you lied!"
He stared incredulously and Jounouchi sighed.
"If you're gonna lie about it, I'm not going to be a part of this."
Jou stood up.
"Do you have a cardboard box?"
Seto's frown deepened and he left, coming back several minutes later. Jou walked out and an engine was heard. Kaiba watched as her drove into one of the many garages.
'What's he doing? He never parks in there.'
Jou came back; holding a full box under is arm. He tossed something small at Seto.
"It's yours again. No use in keeping it."
He walked out, beginning the long walk back to his place, on the other side of Domino, leaving Seto disbelieving, confused. The brunette's hand closed around the cold, metal key of the car and his eyes shot open in realization. The CEO heaved, as he thought back not ten minutes ago, when his teenage lover was still in his arms. It had happened so fast. It just…kit. And he didn't know what to do.
'It can't really be over…can it?'
~*~*~*~*~
*Ring ring*
The phone picked up on the other side and a groggy 'hello?' sounded. Seto's throat constricted at the voice.
"Please, you, I'll do anything."
'I'd give away the world for you.'
"Seto?"
"Anything, I swear."
"…"
"…Jou…please…"
"…Are you going to break that one too?"
"N…na…nani?"
It wasn't every day you could her the reputed CEO afraid or hurt, but it did not affect the other, whose mind was set in stone.
"You promised me. You swore to me you'd never! Don't make promises you can't keep."
The anger and hurt reflected off the voice on the other side and Seto bit his lip, twitching.
"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I'll do anything. God, it hurts so much."
"Don't you think it hurts me too?"
The voice yelled, causing the older Kaiba to sob.
"Damn it, I would have trusted you with my life and you couldn't keep such a little promise. I'm so tired of this Kaiba."
Seto winced at the usage of his last name.
"Please, please, please. I'll tell him first thing when he returns. Just please, please come back to me."
"I wish I could, I really do. Ai shiteru and goodbye."
The line went dead and Seto dropped the phone, falling to his knees, near tears.
'No, it can't end like this. Please, no…'
~*~*~*~*~
Jou was breathing hard, all energy spent, left to every emotion floating around in his head, powerful ones, painful ones. He stumbled into the rain, tilting his face so the rain could fall freely on it, hiding and mingling with the tears.
|I'm so, so sorry.|
'Such an easy promise to keep'
|I'll do anything|
'Why now? Why could you see before?'
|Please, please come back to me.|
'I can't, I don't want to, live without you.'
|It hurts so much|
'Just show me, show me I can trust you without my asking. It's all I want'
|Anything|
'Show me you need me as much as I need you!'
~*~*~*~*~
Jou sat in class next Yugi, trying his best not to look 4 seats away, where Seto was sitting. A knock woke some of the ones who hated history the most, the only ones who dared sleep.
"Yes?"
"Sensei, I was wondering, could I borrow Seto Kaiba a minute please?"
"Of course."
Seto stood up and sighed. He slid his hand along the double desks he passed as usual, Ryou's and Tristan's, then Yugi's and Jou's. Jounouchi winced as the CEO passed by, long fingers leaving a crumpled note behind on his desk. Curiosity got the best of him.
'Watch Channel 24 at 9:00 tonight.'
He glanced out the window where the shorter, still tall, boy was conversing with one of higher workers. Seeming to know eyes were in him, he turned his head to face Jou. Dark blue eyes brimming with melancholy, , he shifted his gaze to his feet and sighed heavily.
|Anything, I swear|
The promise lingered.
'Jou…anything for you.'
~*~*~*~*~
The tall, brown eyes boy flipped to 24 and an interview came on.
"How does it feel being the youngest most eligible bachelor in the country?"
Seto glared at the happy young woman.
"I wouldn't know. I'm not eligible, nor a bachelor."
"And who may the lucky girl be?"
He narrowed his eyes, making the reporter nervous.
"I don't think he'd much appreciate you calling him that."
"Alright. Who may the lucky dog be?"
"Can't call him that either."
He growled.
"Only I can call him that. Which reminds me, I have to speak with Devlin."
He blinked suddenly and shook his head.
Jou turned the TV off and stood, going up the stairs and into his room to finish his homework. Unfortunately, he couldn't concentrate. Burning blue flashed across his mind constantly.
'Seto…God, I miss you so much.'
~*~*~*~*~
Seto smiled warmly at the hugging boy whose arms were tight around his waist. The one he cared for so much.
"Big Brother, I'm glad to be back!" (Got you there, didn't I?)
Mokuba frowned and moved away.
"But you lied when you said you weren't with Jou, didn't you?"
Seto sighed.
"Yes, I'm sorry."
"That's ok! ^_^"
Seto blinked.
"My, you took that easily."
"Why? Did Jou take it hard?"
"Very, unfortunately."
"What happened?"
Seto shook his head sadly and looked on.
"Don't worry about it. Come on, let's get some ice cream."
'I'm driving myself crazy, hiding from my own brother, because of you. I miss you.'
~*~*~*~*~
Seto was lying in bed when he felt delicate fingers brush some hair away from his face. His lids fluttered open and he stared sleepily at the dark shape before him. Only the eyes stood out, the laughing brown eyes he loved, and missed, so much.
"Jou?"
"You should still be sleeping, you have a busy day tomorrow."
The boy took Seto's hand and kissed the palm gently.
"I still think you should watch out for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Don't wanna waste hands like yours."
Seto blinked, smiling at the resulting laugh. Suddenly, he was under the shape, faces inches apart.
"You never did kiss me, did you?"
It grinned at Seto startled expression, he closed his eyes a second to think, and when he opened them again, the room was empty. He shot up.
"A dream! It was all a fucking dream, damnit."
He fell back against his pillow, wide awake.
'My koi, Jou, come back to me.'
Jounouchi had been airing like a ghost all week, and Seto had been lost in a vast whole of darkness. Ryou frowned.
/Kura, there's something going on here. I can't pinpoint it. Some help?/
//What do you want me to do, hikari? I'm the evil tomb robber, remember?//
Ryou grinned as the so-called 'evil' materialized before him, and greeted him hungrily. He moved away, slightly flustered.
"Right, back on subject"
Ryou smiled and pushed his Yami on the couch, nestling in his arms.
/You remember the interview Tuesday? How Seto mentioned dog and Devlin?/
//And your point is…//
/My guess is that Seto and Jou were dating at the time./
//…//
/*sigh* they broke up all of a sudden!?!/
//It's their problem if they're not as smart as us.//
He smirked and tried to maneuver himself on top of his light, but the mentioned wouldn't budge.
/Koi, this is serious. You know how much I hate my friends getting hurt./
//Yeah, yeah. Just like Yugi-kun.//
/Anyway, help me?/
//Depends how.//
/Talk to Seto?/
Bakura grabbed Ryou's shoulders and positioned him so he could look into his eyes…and see the boy was being dead serious. He stared strangely and Ryou pouted.
"Onegai?"
"Alright, alright. You can get anything out of me with that cute face of yours."
Ryou grinned.
"There's something we could do I know I don't need to pout for."
Bakura smirked and started tugging Ryou towards his room.
"I could go for that."
~*~*~*~*~
Seto sighed at the picture in his hand and dropped it into the open drawer, locking it up. He'd kill anyone who dared look in there, except Jounouchi himself. He bit his lip and begun working on the programming of his current project. He couldn't work like this, every thought he had was pulling him farther into the deep end, every thought made the loneliness more, suffocating, more deadly. He shuddered. These days, everything felt so cold.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"Sir, there's a white-haired boy here to see you. He says his name's Bakura."
"Send him up."
He waited, mind blank, for the solid spirit.
"Kaiba."
"What do you what?"
"I don't want anything. Ryou's worried about you and Jou."
Seto winced and turned to face Bakura, sitting backwards in his chair. Something he only did he was extremely lost and Bakura knew it.
"Seto, what happened to you?"
The boy ran a hand through his hair. He could feel his eyes burning.
"I broke a promise. Stupid thing to do, really. He left me."
He raised his eyes to meet Bakura's, who internally shuddered at the pain and uncertainty.
"Please, tell me he'll be back."
"Kaiba, I'm not sure he will be."
"That's not what I asked. Just…go away."
"Set…[1]"
"Just imagine how it feels, for a second. Here. Imagine you have a brother you really care about, and you've been his only guardian all his life, or at least as far as he can remember. You promised Ryou you'd never lie about your relationship. Then your brother asks you, and you really don't think he should know."
"Stupid."
"I know. That's why I'm mentally banging my head against the metaphorical wall. But then, Ryou wouldn't be happy, right. Imagine you're not connected and he leaves without a word of goodbye, really. Suddenly, you never talk. He won't go near you. You call him, beg him to come back, and he tell you 'no' in such a way you know you caused so much pain. Just imagine how it feels."
Bakura swallowed. He noticed a solitary tear roll down Kaiba's cheek, steel strong Kaiba. Jou and Mokuba were his only weak points, and one of them had just had a steel bar rammed through it.
'Jounouchi, come back to me.'
~*~*~*~*~
Jou went through his email account, deleting things since he hadn't gone through it in a month or so. His eyes fell upon the last message he'd ever received from Seto. His hands shook as he was about to delete it, it would only increase the pain. Ryou came in just before he clicked and he took it as a sign, moving the message to his 'to keep' folder. Who knows, maybe this would all be over someday.
"Jou, what are you doing?"
"Just trashing some old messages. Want anything?"
He swirled around in his father's old rolley chair and grinned at Ryou.
"Yup! What is it?"
"About Seto."
Jou clamped his mouth shut and stared.
"You know I'm not an idiot. What happened between you two?"
"He broke an easy promise. I just want to know if I can trust him."
"That's it? Why don't you tell him that?"
"I can't depend on him, Ryou. I shouldn't have to ask."
Ryou stood and left. Jounouchi fell on the bed and hugged his pillow.
'Show me you need me as much as I need you. I want to depend on you.'
~*~*~*~*~
Ryou emailed both Jou and Seto.
'Meet me at the Game Shop tomorrow at 5:00, k?'
~*~*~*~*~
Jounouchi entered, noticing the shop looked empty. He felt something weird going on behind him. He turned around to see Yugi with, smiling apologetically, seconds before he blacked out. Shortly afterwards, the relatively identical experience happened to Seto.
~*~*~*~*~
Seto and Jounouchi woke up in the middle of a forest.
"What the…this looks like the game I'd programmed these idiot corporates ruined."
"Seto…"
The mentioned turned around, surprised.
"We don't have decks, but I have a sword. It's almost like we're mercenaries, but…"
He pointed to a sign.
'Path of trust.'
~*~*~*~*~
They had been walking for who-knows how long. They were both trying not to look at each other. Sounds died out, one by one, making Jou uncomfortable. He started breathing hard to prove to himself he was not going deaf. Seto, who enjoyed silence and didn't understand Jou's soniphobia, (unreasonable fear of going deaf. I don't think that's really the word, if there is one, but Phobia means unreasonable fear and sonic is sound.) since it was a rare fear anyway. He was worried.
"Jou? What's wrong?"
The boy jumped.
"Noth…nothing."
Seto frowned and glanced sideway at what he thought was the most beautiful creature he'd ever laid eyes on.
"Something's wrong. Are you having trouble breathing?"
"Seto, I'm…I'm soniphobic."
"Really?"
Jou bit his lip nervously and nodded. Seto was silent and Jounouchi whimpered.
"Alright. Let's just talk then."
"Thank you."
"Anything for you."
The promise remained.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
[1] Set is good of darkness/evil. That's 'Kura's nickname for Seto 'cause it's short for Seto (duh) and he used to behave like that towards Yami.
Beverly: This is the longest chapter I've ever written. It would have been, what, 2-4 chapters probably? What do you think? And notice every scene that concentrates on either Jou or Seto with a thought of the other. And BTW (by the way) this was meant to have the Japanese names, but not the characters. And sorry to everyone that hates the misuse of 'Koi.' I'm gonna use it for the rest of my already-started fics, but never again.
Chibi Hiei: …why are you using it anyway?
Beverly: *glares* 'cause I like writing romance. humph
Chibi Kurama: Don't be mean Hiei
Chibi Hiei: Sorry K'rama
Chibi Kurama: That's ok! Let's go annoy Draco.
Beverly: *grabs* You're not going anywhere. I got chapters to write…