Jou raised his eyebrows. "What's wrong with you, Kaiba?"

"Where the hell have you been?"

"Conversing with acquaintances. Why?"

"It's past two in the morning."

"Sorry," Jou said, pushing past Kaiba to get to the kitchen.

Kaiba followed him and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting with a very displeased look on his face as Jounochi began going through the fridge. "Well?"

"Well, thanks for waiting up for me so I could get in the house." He pulled out leftovers from some restaurant and put the mess on a paper plate and stuck it in the microwave.

"What about the mess on the floor to my room?"

"What about it?" Jou said, knowing very well what he meant.

"The smashed pieces of plastic? The glass and wire and the microchips? What about this?" He slide the Flameswordsman card across the counter to Jou.

Jou picked it up and turning it over in his hand. "It's scratched," he commented.

"Yeah, it is. You know how much those damn Duel Disk cost to make? You know what a dent giving them away for free is doing to my company? You know I really don't care if you're in the damn tournament to begin with?"

"Good, because I resign from it," Jou said angrily, tossing the card over his shoulder.

Kaiba was surprised by this. "Why?"

"Because I'm not going to win. It's not worth my time."

Kaiba got off his power trip and bent over to pick the card up. He turned it over in his hand. "I thought this was your favorite card," he whispered.

"So?"

"Is this really how you treat the things you care about?"

Jou whirled around, knocking his hand into Kaiba's chest. "Fuck you! What the hell would you know?"

Kaiba was surprised by Jounochi's violent outbreak. He stepped back, swallowing uneasy. "J-Jou...wh-why?"

"My name is Jounochi! Only my friends can call me Jou!" he screamed.

Kaiba fell to his knees, confused. "Why?" he whispered again.

"Why what?" Jou spat out.

"Why do you hurt yourself like this?"

"You mean why the hell am I hurting you?"

Kaiba turned the card over in his hand. "Jou...you don't understand."

"Don't I? What's there to understand anyway?"

Kaiba pulled Jou down to his knees, so their eyes were even. "I like you, Jou. All you ever say is how people have hurt you so much. So why, when someone finally cares about you, do you push them away?"

Jou shook his head, looking down at his hand that Kaiba held. "Whatever, Kaiba."

"Look at me!" Kaiba took Jou's face in his hands roughly. "Why?" he whispered, his heart slowly crumbling.

"I don't like you," Jounochi mumbled.

Kaiba dropped his hands and dropped the card in Jou's lap. "Fine. Leave. Now."

"What?" Jou asked, shocked.

"Get out of here. Now."

"Wha--? Why?"

Kaiba pushed Jou away roughly. "You're not the only one who gets hurt, Jou. You're so bitter you forget that you're only hurting the people you push away. You're so damn empty inside that you think that it's okay to push people to hating themselves as much as you do!"

"I don't hate--" Jou stopped, staring at Kaiba.

"And now I hate myself, Jounochi. Here I am, bearing my soul to someone who promised to not hurt me, and all I get is repetitive rejection over and over and over...sound familiar, Katsuya?"

Jou clenched his fists. "Stop it."

"You think you can trust someone and all they do when you have fallen for them is pity you for a few moments."

Jou fell against Kaiba, sobbing. "Stop it!" he screamed into Kaiba's shoulder.

Kaiba held him close, but was unable to comfort him. "You've made a big mistake, Jou."

"I know!" His hands dug into Kaiba's back as his sobs increased. "Please forgive me! PLEASE!"

"I can't." Kaiba broke from Jounochi. "You kept hurting me. And it was okay, I understood. But I don't anymore." He stood up, regarding Jou with little emotion. "All you wanted was someone to love you. It's hard to fall in love with someone who doesn't want you to. I tried, but I couldn't go past 'like' without...your permission. So you lied to me. You don't want to be loved. You want to be bitter and alone." Kaiba got up, leaving Jou there.

Jou ran his fingers over the card, tears growing in his eyes again.

~~~

Jou finally made his way back to the guest room around 4 a.m. The room looked like a hurricane came through it. ~Hurricane Kaiba.~ He tried the door to Kaiba's, but it was locked. He went back to the hallway and turned the knob. To his surprise, it opened. "Kaiba?" he called softly.

"Go the fuck away!" he screamed.

Jounochi dunked as a coffee cup whizzed just above his head and hit the wall behind him, shattering. "Kaiba! Stop it!"

"Kaiba, stop it," Kaiba mocked. "Damnit. That was my favorite cup." He sat down hard onto the edge of the bed.

Jou turned on a lamp on the desk, illuminating Kaiba's room a bit. Kaiba drew his legs up and wrapped his arms around his legs. He rocked back and forth, crying. "Don't cry, Kaiba. I'm sorry. Please don't..."

Kaiba sobbed into his knees, begging in un-understandable words for Jou to love him.

"Please...please, Kaiba. Don't do this." Jou walked over to him and wrapped his arms around him. "Don't do this, Kaiba. Please."

Kaiba unfolded his body and tried to push Jou away, but Jou pulled him closer. Kaiba closed his hands slightly, pulling gently at Jounochi's clothes. He sobbed into Jou's shoulder. Jounochi ran his hand soothingly down Kaiba's back, pulling him closer. "I'm sorry, Kaiba," he whispered, but was drowned out by Kaiba's sobs. "I'm so very sorry."

Kaiba sobs began to die down until they were just whimpers. "Why?" he said softly.

"Exactly what you said, Kaiba. I'm jaded."

Jou loosened his grip when Kaiba leaned back to look into Jou's soft brown eyes. "Jou? I like you. A lot. Please don't push me away. PLEASE."

Jou ran his hand gently through Kaiba's messy hair, trying to get it to lie down. He kept looking into the pleading blue eyes of the tearing up boy in his arms. "I'll give you a chance," he finally whispered. "Only one chance."

Kaiba nodded and gave Jou a weak smile. "Okay. Only one...don't you EVER tell anyone I was crying."

Jou smiled and hugged Kaiba close again. "Dork."

"I'll make you fall in love me, Jounochi. And until then you can sleep with whoever you want. But promise me you'll only be with me then. Promise."

Jou kissed Kaiba on the forehead. "When you make me fall in love again, not lust, not semi-interest, then you will be the ONLY person in my life. Understand?"

Kaiba nodded, yawning. "I hafta go to bed. I got about two hours before a Kaiba Corp. meeting."

"You trashed my room," Jounochi muttered.

"Then we'll share a bed," Kaiba whispered. "But no funny stuff, okay?"

Jou laughed, letting go of Kaiba. "A dog does not seduce a cat."

Kaiba crossed his arms and looked like he was almost pouting. "Idiot." He yawned, though, and laid down. "Mmm...sleep..."

"At least get under the covers, doofus!" Jou sighed and picked Kaiba up, bringing him to the head of the bed and slipping him under the covers. "You really are the uke," he whispered, pressing a kiss on Kaiba's cheek.

"But I'm cute," Kaiba mumbled sleepily.

"Yes, you are," Jou laughed lightly, softly running his hand over Kaiba's cheek. "Night, Kitty."

"`m nodda titty..." he mumbled, slipping off to sleep.

~~~