Trip to Fall
by Lethe Seraph
Chapter Eight: Because this is how I feel
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^_^;; Thank you for your enthusiastic responses. I know the last chapter was short… TT__TT I'll try harder!
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Had he imagined it?
Jonouchi didn't move, listening intently.
There it was again.
Knock.
"Be right there!" he called, figuring it to be Yugi or Honda. Jonouchi peeked into his father's room; the man was still caught in a drunken sleep. Good. He made his way to the door and opened it tentatively.
Standing in front of him…
…was Kaiba.
The brunette raised an eyebrow.
Jonouchi slammed the door.
What the hell?! thought Jonouchi in a panic, back facing the door. Why is Kaiba here?!
Wait.
…I know that he was dreaming about me…
Don't tell me he wants to…!
No, his more rational side protested. Kaiba's as logical as they come. He knows better than to try that sort of thing. Besides, I don't know that he actually enjoyed the dream.
Jonouchi's panic subsided, and he now felt thoroughly embarrassed for slamming the door. "You still there?" he said quietly.
"Yes," grumbled Kaiba's voice. "What was that?"
Jou opened the door and stepped into the hallway. "We'll have to talk out here. I don't want you waking up my dad," explained Jou.
"That certainly makes sense, seeing as you just slammed the door in my face."
"Um, sorry. Reflex?"
"Is it that humiliating to see someone smarter than you are?"
"Shut up," said Jonouchi. "Just tell me why you're here and get on with it."
"You might try being more polite to your superiors, mutt," said Kaiba in a maddeningly calm tone.
"Go to hell. I'm going back inside." Jonouchi grabbed the handle, and-
Click.
Click click.
"Shit!" swore Jonouchi, rattling the door's handle. "It locked!" And I didn't think to bring out my key!
Kaiba chuckled quietly. Jonouchi turned to stare at him, half angry and half surprised. Kaiba could laugh now?
Well, he had smiled once. Jou remembered now.
The wide eyes had become hooded, longing. Jonouchi blinked. /Is he coming on to me?/
Kaiba let a questioning hand brush lightly down Jonouchi's cheek, and for the first time, Jonouchi saw him smile.
"Idiot," said Kaiba. "How long have you lived here without figuring out that it would lock?"
Jonouchi growled. "It's been a long day."
"And my mind is still fully functional. Why can't yours be as well?"
"So was your mind 'fully functional' when you were dreaming about me, then?" shot Jonouchi before he realized what he was saying. Kaiba blanched and took an involuntary step backward.
"How…?!"
"I heard you, all right? You were talking in your sleep, damn it!"
"The classroom was alone…!"
"I came back to get a notebook! Then I saw you, and you said… you said…" Jou's ears were red. "You said 'why did you kiss me?'"
Kaiba stared at him, recognition dawning in his eyes. "And then…"
"You said my name. You said my name! You can't deny that you were dreaming about me, Kaiba!"
"My dreams do not determine the course of my actions, Jonouchi," said Kaiba coldly. "You cannot assume that."
"I know, but… but…" Jonouchi struggled. "Damn it! The other day, when you… what was that all about?!"
"When I…?"
"You know!"
"As a matter of fact, I don't. That's why I asked."
"You… touched my face, and… smiled," said Jonouchi, voice choked by the memory. "You looked like, I don't know… like you liked me."
Kaiba stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do! I already know that your mind is better than others, you say it often enough. You should be able to remember something that happened less than a month ago!"
"Why would I be 'interested' in you, of all people?" said Kaiba.
"That's what I want to know."
"And why would you care?"
Jonouchi blinked.
"Why would you care, Katsuya Jonouchi?" Kaiba repeated. "You hate me. Nothing more, nothing less. Unless I'm mistaken?"
"Even if I hated you, it would still be important to me if you liked me! I mean, you can't just brush something like that aside!"
"Even if you hated me?" said Kaiba. "You don't, then?"
"Maybe I don't think you're worth my hate." Jonouchi smiled slightly and crossed his arms.
Kaiba's eyes glittered. "That isn't true, though."
"No, it isn't," agreed Jonouchi. "So, tell me already. What was going through your 'fully functional' mind that day?"
"I was trying to determine whether or not you were an alien," said Kaiba. "It's rather hard to tell these days."
Jonouchi blinked. "Did you just … make a joke?"
"No, I really was. What do you take me for?" said Kaiba. "Of course it was a joke."
"You can joke now?"
"It is within my capabilities, yes."
"You're not a heartless prick?" said Jonouchi, astonished. "You have a sense of humor?"
After he said it, Jonouchi winced. That had sounded really mean.
And, apparently, Kaiba wasn't a heartless prick.
"There are some things that I must attend to," he said in a shuttered voice. Just like that day, when they had … and then Yugi had interrupted the moment –
What did that mean?
He was leaving again!
"Wait-"
"Here," said Kaiba, holding out a sheet of paper. Jonouchi took it by reflex, mouth hanging slightly open as though he wanted to say something –
Wait.
Don't leave.
I have to find out…
…I have to apologize…!
There were so many thoughts swirling through Jonouchi's confused mind as Kaiba swept past him. There was a sort of beauty to his movements, though, a fluid grace that made it hard for him to concentrate on any particular thought at that time. And then he snapped back.
"Wait!" said Jonouchi, racing up and grabbing Kaiba's shoulder. He turned Kaiba to face him.
Kaiba flung Jonouchi's hand away as though it were diseased. "I have to go. Unhand me."
"Listen to me!" Jou stubbornly put both his hands on Kaiba's shoulders. The paper made a small crinkling noise. "Look me in the eye, Kaiba."
The brown-haired boy glared down at Jonouchi. His eyes were red-rimmed. How much sleep had he gotten in the past week…? "I could have you off of me in less than a second, mutt."
"You haven't done anything yet. Now listen to me."
"I don't believe that you have anything meaningful to say. Let go by choice, now, or I shall make you let me go."
What else could Jou do?
"I'm sorry, damn it! I'm trying to tell you that I'm sorry!"
That stopped Kaiba in his tracks.
The words poured forth. "I didn't mean to say that, I think you're a really smart person even if you're kind of annoying sometimes – well, all the time-"
Kaiba snorted.
"And it's not your fault if you had a dream, I mean, I've been having weird dreams about you too, and I'm sorry I was rude to you, all right?!"
Oh, crap.
Had he actually said that?
"Not that I… think of you like that," finished Jonouchi lamely.
"Of course not," said Kaiba with a smirk. If Jonouchi hadn't heard Kaiba's tones so often in school and during arguments, he might have thought that it was the same cold, insulting voice as always.
But …
…it wasn't.
Not at all.
"You don't want to wake up your father, do you?"
"Huh?"
"You don't want to wake up your father, do you?" repeated Kaiba patiently. "If you would like, I have several spare rooms."
What?!
And now he was being … thoughtful?
"Why are you doing this?" said Jonouchi.
The smile was small, but it was still there.
"Would you like to stay the night?"
"But, but … nightclothes –"
"Plenty spare."
"Toothbrush?"
"More than enough."
"Hairbrush."
"You don't use one anyway."
"But…" struggled Jonouchi. "It wouldn't be right. I don't even ask Yugi if I can stay over when Dad's like this."
For some reason, Kaiba seemed to understand.
"You need rest, Jonouchi. Come with me. …You won't have to worry about anything happening between us; I do have some self-restraint," added the young businessman with a raised eyebrow.
"Um, okay," conceded Jou, before he knew he had.
And then they were in the car, speeding down the near-empty road…
…wait, did that mean that he needed the self-restraint?
Or had it been another joke?
Whatever.
Sleep finally overcame his senses, in the peace of the limousine, and his head somehow came to rest upon Kaiba's shoulder.
Kaiba didn't move him; he sighed slightly and closed his eyes.
The worksheet drifted from Jou's hand.