by Lethe Seraph
Chapter Two: You're about to be got
Though he wasn't a fast thinker, thousands of thoughts rushed through his head during this one moment. Included in them were random thoughts, like So will Yugi want to watch the movie?, vague thoughts, like Oooh! It's silk!, and – most prominent in this teenage mind – panicked thoughts that were hardly coherent.
Okay, Jou. Let go now. Now. Damn it!
His hands wouldn't move. In that one moment, he was frozen – by fear, which he recognized immediately (Will he hit me, or what?) and by something else, which he did not recognize.
Perhaps it was daring. He had finally gotten through Seto Kaiba's personal bubble. Jonouchi had pierced the mysterious mist and proven that yes, in fact, Kaiba was alive, not a ghost, and very much touchable.
Perhaps it was amazement. Is that strawberry I smell on him? Nah. Couldn't be. I must be imagining things.
Perhaps it was curiosity. How long until he moves? Is it strawberry or vanilla? It kinda smells like both. Huh.
Or perhaps it was the simple truth that Jonouchi was enjoying himself very much and didn't want to let go, lest Kaiba decide to punch his lights out – er, scorn him until the end of eternity while calling him a mangy mongrel.
Although Kaiba did that already anyway.
What did Jonouchi have to lose?
What was there to gain?
How could Jou get further under Kaiba's easily irritated skin?
What he wanted to do, Jonouchi decided in that one moment, was to annoy the hell out of Kaiba.
But how…?
He almost had an idea.
-
Five more seconds, determined Kaiba, and I move. He had decided that the astonishment given by being able to touch such a sacred and noteworthy personage as himself had stunned Jonouchi's already poorly functioning mind into a state of shock. That might have sounded rather high-and-mighty of him, true, but it was merely a fact: Kaiba was superior. People scrambled out of his way when he passed – at KaibaCorp, anyway. Jonouchi was intriguing in that he was too stupid to know any better.
Four…
Three…
Two…
One--
Jonouchi prepared himself mentally for what he was about to do. While it would most likely be distasteful, and just plain icky, it would be worth it to see the expression on Kaiba's face. He could deal with the rumors later.
He cleared his throat.
"Oh!" he said, as though he were actually surprised by the turn of events – well, he was, but not to such an extent. Good. He's looking at me funny now. I've got his attention. Okay, here goes. "Good afternoon…"
-
"Oh!" said Jonouchi in surprise.
He's awake, thought Kaiba. Now what?
He hadn't expected this: Jonouchi pressed a bit closer to him, and looked up – seductively?!
"Good afternoon, Seto-koi," said Jonouchi sweetly.
Kaiba suppressed the "WHAT THE HELL?!" that was raging against his tongue. No, he would keep his cool and follow this through to the end. The mutt must have lost his mind. "When did I give you permission to refer to me by a nickname, mutt?"
Jonouchi smiled, and Kaiba stiffened at the close proximity. "Oh, don't play coy, Seto…koi," he said, smiling. The smile was frightening in its attractiveness – it had a strange effect upon Kaiba, making his heart race yet faster and his pale cheeks burn. He attributed it to annoyance. He should be on his way home by now, preparing work. He shouldn't be here, with… That smile was still there. Kaiba didn't know what to do.
He didn't know what to do.
They were drawing a crowd. He couldn't be humiliated. He wouldn't!
He couldn't move.
-
He had been right. It was worth it, decided Jonouchi as he looked up into Kaiba's cerulean eyes. Normally icy and still, they were now wide with surprise. Jonouchi could see it, how Kaiba was almost frightened out of his mind. Things were out of the CEO's control now. Jonouchi liked it that way. Kaiba's eyes remained trained on him, waiting for him to move – for him to do something, anything to break them out of this new, strange silence. And Jonouchi would oblige, yes indeed.
He wondered what Kaiba would think.
-
Why did his body refuse to heed his command? Move, Seto told his body sternly, trying to look away from Jonouchi but finding himself unable. Move, now.
As Jonouchi began to press up towards him, his body obliged.
Unfortunately, Seto had not specified in which direction it should move…
-
The wide eyes had become hooded, longing. Jonouchi blinked. Is he coming on to me? It had just been a joke! Jonouchi tried to quickly back away, but Kaiba had the upper hand now.
Jonouchi was cornered by that lost look, and he found that he - the hunter - had found himself trapped.
Kaiba let a questioning hand brush lightly down Jonouchi's cheek, and for the first time, Jonouchi saw him smile.
Even if Jonouchi had wanted to escape…
-
What was he doing? Kaiba knew the answer, of course, but for the life of him would never be able to say why. Why was he trailing his fingers across Jonouchi's face, like a child in his curiosity? Why was he marveling at the softness of the other's battle-edged features, edging up to his unruly blond hair, pulling closer himself?
Why…?
-
Jonouchi was, to say the least, amazed. He hadn't known that Kaiba could smile so… so nicely. The Kaiba he knew was a jerk who only cared about his work and his little brother, and often neglected the latter to complete the former. The Kaiba he knew would have shoved Jonouchi away the moment they touched. The Kaiba he knew wasn't romantically attracted to anyone, regardless of age, gender, or occupation, damn it! He almost had the urge to ask him who he was and what he had done with Seto Kaiba, multibillionaire teen CEO.
But his heart was hammering too loudly to let his voice through.
He had no choice but to let Kaiba pull closer, not knowing what was happening and for some inexplicable reason wishing that the moment would never stop.
So it was vanilla after all…