Kaiba woke up suddenly with a start. He picked up his alarm clock and glared at it. ~Is it broken? No, just not set. Why? Oh...my birthday...~ He fell back and moaned. ~Another year older. Wonderful. Why do I care? It's not like I'm hitting middle age tomorrow. Maybe my birthday's are just natural disappointments.~

He glanced around the room, then settled on staring at the door to Jounochi's room. ~He's probably still asleep. I didn't mean to be so cold last night. I heard him sobbing. I should have gone in... And what? Gotten my heart broken again? How many times until it just completely crumples to nothing? I'm being stupid. Hearts don't break. They don't even have anything to do with love. Love? Do I really love that mutt? Do I? I... Is being IN love the same as loving someone? No. Am I even in love? I...don't know... Crush? I have crush on that mutt? I have crush on Jounochi Katsuya? I can't believe it... How? Why? He's different from anyone I've ever met. But does that mean I love him? I should have held him last night. I really should have. He needed it badly. I wonder if he's still alive... No! Jounochi's not that stupid. Is he? Not stupid, but desperate? He says he does...it...to numb the pain. The pain. Is it enough to make him want to die? The Pain. He's only making it worse by sleeping around. I care about him. I know that. I do. I just wish I could...fix everything.~

Kaiba got up wearily, pulling on a nice set of casual clothes. He climbed the stairs slowly, hoping that by the time he got down there, the day would be over and he wouldn't have to face his birthday. He liked keeping busy. By clearing his schedule, Mokuba had made Kaiba unsure of what to do with the day.

Jounochi gazed up at him from the bottom of the stairs. "Good morning, birthday boy."

~Arugh, Mokuba told him?~ "Very funny."

Jounochi took his hand and pulled him close against his body. "I got you this," he breathed in Kaiba's ear, handing him a blue rose.

Kaiba stared at it. He had never... It was the prettiest pale blue he had ever seen. "How...why...?"

"I found a florist that actually carried these. Do you like it?"

"It's...it's very...nice..." ~Nice? Oh come on, Seto...it's the prettiest thing you've ever seen...~ "I...how?"

"Cross breeding, I suppose. I'm not exactly a scientist."

"No...roses are my favorite..." he said softly.

"Mokuba helped me a bit," he murmured.

"Jounochi, this is wonderful, I--"

"There's more," Jounochi whispered.

He led Kaiba to the kitchen by his free hand. Kaiba gasped. "Wow..."

"Seto! Big brother!" Mokuba ran up to him. "Aren't you surprised?!"

A large white cake was decorated with frosting blue dragons was surrounded by a few platters of Chinese food. Kaiba shook his head and turned back to Jounochi. "What in the world is this?"

"Your celebration. Now sit down and enjoy it!"

"I've never...no one's ever..."

Jounochi threw his arms around Kaiba. "It's okay," he whispered. "Just enjoy yourself."

"Jounochi, why...why did you do this?"

Mokuba waved his arm in front of his brother's eyes. "Because Jounochi wants to be your koi."

Kaiba looked back and forth between Jou and Mokuba. Jou looked at Mokuba through the corner of his eyes, then back at Kaiba. "Kaiba, I want...I think I've..."

"He's in love with you!" Mokuba burst out. "You have to date him, Seto!"

Kaiba looked up at Jounochi, amused. "Um, is that okay with you?"

Jounochi let out a hard breath. "Kaiba, I really like you. I'm not sure if I'm in love with you yet, is that okay?"

Kaiba looked down. "Jounochi, I don't want you to just...for me...I...I love you, Jounochi."

Jou placed his hands on Kaiba's cheeks and close the distance between each other, drawing him into a kiss. He pulled away, gently caressing Kaiba's cheek. "I don't want to loose you, Kaiba. And I don't want to loose myself." He threw his arms around Kaiba, hugging him tight.

Kaiba tensed, then slowly began to relax in Jounochi's arms. "I love you, Jounochi," he whispered, wrapping his arms around the blond. "Promises me you won't hurt me. Please..." he softly begged.

"I will do *everything* in my power to make sure you never get hurt again." He gazed up into Kaiba's eyes.

Kaiba opened his mouth to speak, buy Mokuba interrupted. "Are we going to eat cake yet?"

Kaiba smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Cake..."

***Normally, I would have ended it here, but, eh, might as well... And I'm not sure if Japanese people blow candles out...?***

Jounochi pulled out a lighter and lit the blue and white stripped candles. "Make a wish."

Kaiba smiled at Jounochi, then leaned in and blew out the candles. He looked back up at Jou, who pulled him into a kiss.

When they finally came back up for air, they noticed Mokuba had already cut up the pieces of cake. "Mokuba," Kaiba gently reminded him, "it's breakfast."

"Maybe for you, but me and Jou have been up since six trying to get all the preparations...prepared. So dig in!"

"I have the smallest piece," Kaiba commented, eyebrows raised.

Jounochi pulled him into a seat. "It's cut proportionately. Mokuba's a growing boy," he pointed, "so he gets a large piece. I eat a lot, so I get a bigger piece, and you get the tiny piece because sugar's bad for you and you're so skinny your body would freak out on all the sugar."

Kaiba rolled his eyes and took Jounochi's hand. "You're such a dork."

Jounochi smiled, then stared down at his plate, then at his hand. ~How the hell am I suppose to eat?~ He clumsily began using his left hand with the fork, gave up, and threw it down.

"Are you okay?" Kaiba glanced up. His eyes widened. "What are you doing?!"

Jounochi was eating the cake, face first. "Being the dog you say I am," he mumbled, a mouth full of cake.

Kaiba shook his head. "Next time I'll remember you're right-handed." He dropped Jounochi's hand.

Jounochi swallowed, then leaned in and planted a kiss on Kaiba's cheek.

Kaiba made a face. "Ewww..."

Mokuba giggled. "You're such a neat freak, Seto."

"Yeah, Seto," Jounochi mocked.

"Shut up, KAT-suya!" Kaiba laughed, hitting Jounochi on the arm. "And I am not, Mokuba."

"Yeah you are!" Mokuba insisted.

"Am not!"

Jounochi, who had been scooping up some Lo Mien, snorted. "Yes you are." He tossed a noodle at Kaiba.

Kaiba looked at him, horrified. "You ruined my shirt!"

"Take it to the dry cleaners, baby." He giggled, tossing a handful at him.

"Jounochi!" Kaiba roared, but stopped when Mokuba threw a handful of cake at his face.

"Food fight!" Jou shouted.

Mokuba and Kaiba eyed each other, then grinned. Mokuba shrugged. "Why not?"

They began throwing handfuls of cake, noodles, and rice at each other, ending in a messy, giggling pile on the kitchen floor.

Jounochi rolled over on his side and tugged on Kaiba's rat-tail thing. Kaiba turned back to look at Jou, a content smile on his face. Jou reached over and wiped off a bit of frosting from Kaiba's cheek and licked his fingers. "I love you," he whispered.

Kaiba raised a sweet-and-sour-sauce soaked eyebrow. "You love me *now*?"

"Nice to know my boyfriend can be spontaneous. And I have to say, you look really sexy in cake."

Kaiba cupped Jou's face in his hand and kissed him gently.