Disclaimer: The same disclaimer for first chapter applies to the rest of the story.
Authoress' Notes: I've mentioned before that whenever I start to write a lot, my drawing abilities start to slack off. And the same goes vice versa. ^^;; I've been writing this in my journal, but only a paragraph every so often. It's so HARD to write! I'm serious! I don't see how people can write Jou/Seto so easily when it's... very hard.
Thank you so much everyone for all the reviews! This is my best story yet, so I hope there are many more to come. I'm terribly sorry for the long wait though. I know there's plenty of people out there checking every day to see an update. I don't want to disappoint you!
Seto caught Jou's gaze and walked across the kitchen to him. "You look much better already. I'm having the Chef make us something for dinner. It'll be in a while though, so until then, the time is yours."
"That's great." Jou heaved a great sigh. "I'm exhausted."
"You can sleep in my quarters. Follow me." Seto took a hold of Jou's hand and began to lead him through the maze of hallways.
"Seto, I can walk on my o-" Jou stopped mid-sentence one again, because Seto squeezed his hand lightly. The corner of Jou's mouth turned into the tiniest of smirks and he followed Seto lead, returning the light squeeze.
But all Jou could think of was that Seto had this huge mansion-who knew how many guestrooms there were in the place. And of all the beds Jou was to sleep in, it was Seto's.
And that was saying something.
Seto's bedroom was not like anything Jounouchi had ever seen in person. The bed was enormous, and maroon canopy curtains draped over all sides of it. There were curtains to match on a huge balcony window and his hand-carved custom made furniture was exquisite. It was just enough to make Jou's mouth hang open as soon as Seto had opened the double doors.
The sudden pause must have made Seto a little impatient because he'd already gone a few steps in the room before turning around. "You coming in or not?"
"Ah... sorry. I'm coming." Jou stepped forward, a little wobbly. He was exhausted from the events of the day, and the bath had eased his muscles greatly. Seto's hand jerked out in front of him, a little shaky. Jou looked up into his icy blue eyes with uncertainty.
"Take it, you can't carry yourself." Seto reassured him.
Jou remembered what had happened only moments before hand, when they were in the bathroom. He remembered how easily they had fallen into that kiss, and it was kind of funny how uneasy Seto seemed now. He smiled inside and took a firm grip of Seto's hand and leaned into his side. A shaky, but strong hand wound around Jou's waist to hold him up and the two of them headed towards Seto's huge bed.
Upon reaching it, Jou fell onto its cushiony softness (Authoress: Or does Seto seem more like an extra-firm kind of guy?). He closed his eyes and sighed in content and stayed there for no more than a few moments. His breathing slowed down, until he fell asleep.
Seto stood at the bedside and watched the blonde fall asleep. "He's just so completely like a dog." He muttered to himself. "He trusts me completely now…" His body moved before his mind could think it over, and he was sitting beside Jounouchi. His hand moved to brush the soft, now drying bangs away from the blonde's forehead.
Jou moved slightly in his sleep, causing Seto to jerk his hand back and get a recollection on reality. "What are you doing, Seto?" He said to himself. "You're showing him too much compassion-too much kindness…" the CEO turned around and headed for the open doorway. Jou moaned and turned over.
"Don't leave." He muttered.
Seto turned around and raised an eyebrow. Jou appeared to still be asleep. Perhaps he was talking in his sleep. He turned back towards the doorway.
"Seto… don't leave me."
Seto stopped dead in his tracks and turned back towards the sleeping blonde. "Jou?"
"Not now! Come back!" Jou shifted in his sleep, and ended up on his stomach, his butt in the air. His left arm dangled over the side of the bed. Seto rolled his eyes and walked back towards him. He rolled Jou's exhausted body over and pulled the blankets up over him.
Jou let out a loud snore, and Seto snorted with a muffled chuckle. He's so… innocent like his, Seto thought. Without a second notion, he climbed into the bed beside him and rested his chin on top of Jou's head.
Jou seemed to stir a little, and wrapped his arms around Seto's waist. "I knew you wouldn't leave me."
Seto's mouth dropped, but he closed it immediately. He pulled his head back and lifted Jou's face up to him. Brown eyes met blue eyes and the owner of the brown eyes smiled. "Mornin'"
"You faked the whole time?"
"Yes." Jou grinned. "Well, no not the whole time. But I got you in bed didn't I?"
Seto was suddenly taken aback, "Was that your entire plan?"
"I suppose."
Seto wasn't used to Jou being so aggressive. He had regained a personality of being pushed around due to his Father's constant abuse, but this sudden press of dominance was pushing Seto over the edge. He reached a hand up and brushed a stray lock of Jou's hair from his face.
Seto couldn't remember if he had made the move, or if Jou had done it, but they had pulled into another kiss. Seto's hand pulled around the pack of Jou's head and they drew each other in close. This time, it was Jou who pried Seto's mouth open and forced his tongue inside. Seto's eyes went wide and he broke the kiss instantly. Jou's eyes darted around Seto's. They were filled with hurt and confusion.
"Jou... what are you doing?"
Jou shrank back, still hurt, and in a sheepish voice: "Kissing you."
"Listen to me..." Seto reached under the covers and took one of the hand Jou had wrapped around his waist. "I don't want to take advantage of you. You're feeling open right now because you desperately was to be loved. It's NOT the answer." he squeezed Jou's hand.
The blonde broke his gaze and turned over on his side. "You're right, Seto..."
This simple thought caught Seto a little offguard too. Jou, admitting so easily that Seto was right? His actions were getting much harder to predict.
"Get some rest." Seto patted Jou's shoulder and climbed from the bed. Once again, he made his way to the door. This time, Jou didn't stop him, but he stopped anyway. His eyes took one last glance towards the bed. Jou had curled up into a fetal position and his eyes were shut tight.
Something inside Seto seemed to fall apart. He legs moved when his brain told them to stop. This arms moved to pull the covers when his mind scream for them not to. And he climbed into bed beside Jou again and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. He whispered slightly into his ear. "I'm sorry."
Jou didn't respond for a while. His muscles were tense and his shoulders were stiff. But as the seconds ticked by, he gradually loosened up and turned around. They laid there, together in silence until Jou finally did fall asleep. Seto didn't fall asleep long afterwards.
~*~
Jou didn't know which woke him up first: the screaming or the smell of good food wafting up from the kitchen. His eyes opened suddenly and he bolted upright. Seto was no longer in the bed, but trying to comfort a screaming child.
Well, he was no longer screaming, but now yelling at Seto. The voice, the long black hair--it was none other than Mokuba himself. His face was red with anger and he pointed towards the bed. "What is HE doing here?"
Seto had his hands on his brother's shoulders to calm him down. "Jounouchi is just visiting until he can heal properly."
Mokuba didn't buy it. "But you HATE him, Seto! And he used my strawberry bath bubbles!"
"Uh, he's sorry about that." Seto answered for Jou. "It was my idea anyway. Please, keep it down, though, he's trying to sleep."
"He's perfectly awake." Mokuba mumbled.
Jou didn't really know WHAT to do or say so he pretty much... sat there with his mouth hanging open. Seto turned around and smiled when he saw that jou was awake, but a quick prod from Mokuba managed to dissipate that smile. "Mokuba, just give it time. He'll be gone once he heals."
Mokuba's arms dropped to his sides. "It's your decision. He's helped you before, I guess you owe him one."
Seto flinched. He didn't owe anyone anything. It was Mokuba who sought Yugi's help to release him from the game his co-horts had trapped him in. NOT Jounouchi. But if it was to get Mokuba back on his good side, he nodded.
"Well, dinner's almost ready. Hurry up." Mokuba murmured and left the room. Seto stood up and stretched.
Jou was staring at Seto. He didn't realize he was until Seto turned around and their eyes met. It was only for a brief moment, however, because Jou blinked and shook his head, trying to re-gather his thoughts. "Seto, am I being a bother?"
Seto laughed. It wasn't cold and menacing, like his laughs normally were, it was almost a laugh one would have made at a joke. "This is Seto Kaiba you're talking to. If you bothered me, I would kick your ass out so fast even I would wonder why I let you in."
"I used to be a bother to you." Jou said quietly.
Goddamn, he's being uke, Seto thought to himself. Actually, he didn't even think that at all. He didn't even know what seme was, much less uke. The Authoress just kinda threw that in there to make Seto completely disoriented and say something he normally wouldn't say.
"It's because I like you. You can't bother me."
That disorientated Jou too. He kind of figured as much, but still, hearing it from the Seto Kaiba himself was a bit shocking. The strangest part was, he was afraid he liked Seto as well. But he wouldn't tell him that. He didn't know whyhe wouldn't tell him that, but he just quite simply couldn't. So the blonde sighed and simply said, "Oh." As opposed to the five hundred things he could have said right at that moment.
Seto decided it was time to get things moving along. Mokuba wouldn't wait forever downstairs and quite frankly, the smell of dinner was overwhelming by now. "Alright, let's get you oriented again and we'll go eat something."
Jou smiled. "I'm starving!"
Seto helped him out of the bed and towards the doorway. He didn't really HAVE to help, he did it anyway as an excuse to get close to the Jou. Jou was quite capable of walking, and the bath and nice warm bed had done him more good than he'd ever imagined. When they got to the dining room, Mokuba was already sitting at the far end of the dining table and all sorts of foods were spread across it's top. Seto took a seat opposite of Mokuba and motioned for Jou to sit next to him.
Dinner went rather quickly. Mokuba was silent, and the only words spoken were Seto asking Jou if the food was alright. Which, of course, it was extremely delicious and Jou had three times his fill.
For all the world, Jou never would have imagined that staying at Seto Kabia's house would be so nice. For the longest time, he figured that Seto had people obeying him left and right as slaves. Jou found himself, quite a few times, staring at Seto during his thoughts. He really wasn't the guy he had expected. Once or twice, Seto caught his gaze, gave a little smile and they both went back to eating.
~*~
Jou sighed and sat on the bench outside of school. He and Seto had been fighting that morning on whether or not Jou was able to go to school today.
"This is nothing! I've been to school in much worse conditions than this! I can GO!"
"You're under my care now, Katsuya. I'm not letting you go to school."
In the end, it had taken some puppy eyes and a very enticing kiss for Seto to change his mind about letting Jou go. But whatever the case, he was there and waiting for first period to start.
"Jounouchi-kun! There you are!" Yugi Mutou ran up towards him, smiling. He looked like he'd been running for a while. "When you didn't show up for school yesterday, we were all really worried! Is everything OK?"
Jou rubbed his nose in his usual fashion. "Ah, nothing ol' Jounouchi can't handle! I've had worse days. Just sick is all."
Yugi didn't look convinced, but he didn't want to dig any deeper into the problem. He looked hurt that Jou wouldn't tell him everything that went on. But he didn't say anything. They just stood in silence when suddenly Yugi smiled. "Well, we better hurry up! We don't want to be late for first period!"
"Yeah." Jou stood up and stretched. Seto had already gone in to talk to the nurse about any of Jou's records, and Jou had wanted to wait for him, but he would be late anyway, so he might as well walk in with Yugi. They were best friends, after all. "Hey, Yug?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For not telling you what really happened. I'm alright now, though. Please understand."
Yugi looked up and Jou and smiled. "I understand Jounouchi-kun. I was just worried."
Jou turned red. "Thanks for being a good friend, Yug'. It's nice to know someone out there cares." As soon as he said that, he thought of Seto again. And how for the longest time, they were enemies. Yelling, calling each other name, and teasing each other. Could that POSSIBLY be Seto's own way of telling someone he cares? But he acted to nice to Mokuba... Jou forced it from his mind and walked inside towards his first hour class with Yugi.
Ending Notes: Did Yugi make much of an appearance before this chapter? I dunno, I can't remember and I even WROTE the damn thing. *sighs* I think I'm losing my brain.
Yugi Muse: Losing it? It's already lost.
Shut up and stop eating all the tuna. I need that to concentrate.
Yugi Muse: That was off-subject and quite offensive. And I'm not the one eating the tuna. It's that damn Chibi Otogi.
Chibi Otogi: TUNA 'SGETTI!
Yami Muse: Pfeh. At least someone likes my Tuna Spaghetti R&R Cassarole.