Ah hah… its been a while, eh? .;; I sort of wrote myself into a hole with this fic… that last chapter was a very bad idea. ::bangs head:: I was originally planning this fic to be 5 chapters. Ah hah… I have two chapters of filler now. So… uhh… enjoy another chapter of filler. I PROMISE the next chapter will be a date.
Notes: --- is a scene change. 'italics' are Jou's thoughts.
Chapter 5:All the Marbles
A small smile spread across the blonde's lips. "You know Seto, we should do this more often. I like eating out."
"You just like the fact that you can stuff your face with no expense." The brunette rolled his eyes and went back to watching the other people in the mall food court. "Are you done yet? You've had three burgers. I don't see how those things haven't disintegrated your stomach yet."
Jounouchi took a final sip from his soda and crumpled up a hamburger wrapper. "I'm done now. Yeesh, keep your pants on." Seto turned to the blonde and gave him an odd look. "I guess that gets new meaning once you've snogged the person you say that to."
"I'm leaving." His voice was completely void of emotion. In one quick motion he picked up his tray and headed to the garbage.
"Aww man, don't go all Dr. Freeze on me."
"Enough with the corny American comic book references." The brunette hastily shoved his garbage in the bin and then headed off at a brisk pace through the food court.
Jou followed suit by dumping his trash. Seto wasn't paying attention though and was already several metres away. After catching up he slid an arm through one of Seto's. "Come with me to the bathroom."
The taller teen merely raised an eyebrow but shrugged and followed the blonde. The washroom was completely empty.
"Hurry up and go, or you'll have to walk back to school."
"Who said I had to go?" The blonde smirked and pushed Seto up against a wall. "I'm amazed ya didn't figure this one out." They began kissing, lips battling for dominance and hands roaming freely.
The door clicked open.
"GOD DAMMIT!"
The door banged against the wall and someone stormed out of the bathroom.
Seto and Jounouchi turned to the door to see a retreating Bakura and a rather amused looking Yami.
"Uhhh, Jounouchi-kun, are you alive?" Ryuji waved his hands in front of the blonde's face.
Jounouchi blinked and glanced around the almost empty game shop. He'd been spacing out again, thinking back to lunch. Things had been rather tense between the cat and the dog since the whole skirt incident. Neither one of them really wanted to bring it up.
"Yah, sorry man. Just thinking."
Ryuji blushed slightly. "You know that skirt? I only wore it a couple times… on a dare and then on Halloween last year." Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. "I had a cousin that thought I should have been born a girl. He was a couple years older than me and always made fun of my looks." He flipped some hair behind his shoulder. "Real immature twit. Anyways, last year I spent the summer with his family since things weren't going too hot with me and my father. To gain his acceptance he gave me an initiation-like test. I had to wear a skirt and padded bra for a day and walk around town. Not so bad, but then he added in that I had to shave or wax my legs."
Jounouchi's mouth hung open. "And you did?"
Ryuji nodded. "Yah, I was a real idiot then. But it was interesting to have very smooth legs… I had a lot of guys hit on me that day."
"Please tell me you didn't wear a thong."
"I didn't, but I had on a pair of pink knickers. And they weren't really that uncomfortable…"
Jounouchi was at a complete loss for words. Nervously he began to fiddle with his hair studied a nearby wall.
"Oh come on, it turns you on. Doesn't it?"
Jounouchi blushed madly and completely turned his back to the other teen.
Ryuji came up behind the blonde, slid one arm around his wais and trailed his other hand down Jounouchi's chest. "I know I do. You just can't resist me." He began to nibble on one of Jou's ears.
"What if somebody walks in?"
"If they're any of my fangirls they'll be overjoyed. It seems that more and more these days young females are turned on by the sight of two guys getting it on." Ryuji's right hand continued to roam up and down Jounouchi's torso, slowly going lower and lower. He began to kiss down the blonde's neck…
"K-Katsuya?" a voice asked tentatively from somewhere behind the two boys.
The two boys spun around only to come face to face with a rather bewildered girl.
"Shizuka?" Jou asked.
---
A rather distant-looking Jounouchi wandered into first period. Seto raised an eyebrow at the blonde, but he didn't seem to notice. Ryuji wandered in a minute later and kept giving the blonde nervous glances.
"Ok, what happened between you two?" Seto spat. Neither Jounouchi nor Ryuji seemed to register that he had said something. "Hello?" He waved his hand in front of their faces.
Jounouchi seemed to snap out of it first. "Stop dat, it's annoyin'."
"Then what happened?"
"Well, we were in the front room of Ryuji's shop, and we was sort of snoggin'…" Jou trailed off.
"Then his younger sister came in with the intent of buying him a present for when she was going to visit him in a couple weeks. Apparently her and her mother are moving back into the city." Ryuji finished.
"It's not that she didn't take it well. Well… she did after a while. She was pretty shocked at first. But things didn't get bad until mom came in. She'd seen Ryuji and me through the window. I never knew she could yell that much."
"And that's not even the juicy part." Ryuji grimaced and rubbed his shoulder gently. "She hit me with her handbag. A lot…"
Jounouchi gave a weak smile. "Then things get more interestin', She called dad and when I got home he threw a lamp at me." He pulled some hair away from the side of his face to show a large purple bruise.
"Holy shit, he did that?" Seto huffed.
"Naw." Jounouchi gave his companions a broad grin. "That's from when I wiped out on the floor at Yuugi's house and hit ma head on the banister. Ryuji and I were just bein all down and out just to freak ya out."
Seto scowled at the two as they laughed at his expense.
"Anyways, back to ma story. See, afta dad threw the lamp I went to Yuugi's to spend the night. Anyways, back to fallin', Sogaruko freaked and brought me to the hospital to check if I had brain damage and I had to phone dad since I didn't have my health card. He freaked out and came ta the hospital immediately. He still thinks I tried to kill maself."
Seto chuckled slightly as the blonde finished his story. "Seems like you had a rough night."
"No kiddin', I practically had to bribe ma old man so that I could even get out of the house to go ta school." He rubbed his temple and scowled at the floor. "If he's gonna be like that now, I almost wish he'd go back to his drunken bastard self."
Ryuji rubbed Jou's shoulder with one hand and flicked some hair behind his shoulder with the other. "At least he's not bothering you about your sexual preferences. When my dad found out about me things didn't go so well."
Both of Ryuji's companions gave him a raised eyebrow look.
"Well, it might be a bit disconcerting when you come home to see your son naked in a hot tub with another boy." He laughed nervously. "That's pretty much when I decided that I was going to move out on my own, try to make Dungeon Dice Monsters a big success and use my college savings to start a game shop."
Seto's eyes widened slightly. "You gave up your college savings on a whim to start a game shop?"
"Little too reckless for you, Kaiba-boy?"
"Don't you dare call me that! And no, I just didn't expect something like that."
There were practically sparks flying between the two. Seto had one of his trademark icy glares fixed on Ryuji while the raven-haired boy had Seto fixed with a mischievous look. Jounouchi sighed and leaned between the two.
"Jeeze, don't you two start fightin' now. I've had enough yellin' for a while."
The bell signalling the beginning of class rang. Everyone shuffled off to their respective desks and not so readily awaited the teacher to begin.
---
Lazily Jounouchi flung open the door to the apartment and wandered in. "Hey dad, I'm home."
There was no answer from the house. Not that Jou had been expecting one. Usually his dad would be sleeping or out drunk at this time of day. But due to yesterday's events it would not have surprised Jou if his father had been lurking around, waiting for him to show up.
It was just after 8:00. Jounouchi had put in a 4 hour day at Ryuji's game shop. He would have stayed later but there had been a malfunction in one game room and the whole building had had to close early. Seeing as Ryuji had been in a foul mood and that there was little Jounouchi could have done to help he had decided to go home.
'Wonder where dad is. I could really use something to eat though.'
He went into the kitchen and opened the cupboard. After seeing the interior of the cupboard he took a double-take. 'That's new…' There was a total of six paper cups in the cupboard. He glanced over to the sink to see that it was in fact void of any eating utensils.
Scratching his head he opened up the next cupboard door to see if there were any plates. There were a couple paper plates stacked onto a half dozen plastic camping plates.
"Ok, this is tooweird."
He opened up the cutlery drawer, not knowing what to expect. To his mild surprise all the spoons and forks were in their proper place. However, the knife slot was a different story. It was completely empty except for a yellow, plastic orange peeler.
'Do I even want to know what this is about? If somehow this is dad's logic when he's sober, I want him when he's drunk again. At least I could predict what he was going to do then.'
Then he noticed the note on the counter. He picked it up and read the sloppy writing.
Katsuya, I've hidden anything I thought you could use to hurt yourself. Don't bother looking for them, they're behind lock and key. The can opener's hidden away too. Don't kill yourself. –dad
"I think he's finally lost every last one of his marbles." Jounouchi laughed nervously and brushed some hair out of his eyes. "Maybe it's not too late to go out for dinner." He crumpled up the note and tossed it into the bin on his way out.
---
After a very healthy dinner (consisting of a Big Mac meal –super sized of course-), Jounouchi had taken to walking through the quickly emptying park. It was nearly nine and most sane people had gone home to where they would be safe from muggers and the cold. He shoved his now cold hands into the pocket of his green jacket. He didn't really care to go home seeing as there was nothing to do there. The day had been unusually slack and had left Jounouchi with no homework. If he went home, that would result in him doing nothing more than thinking about the cursed contests and how he'd have to choose either Ryuji or Seto by Monday.
'Dammit, this whole contest thing is driving me crazy. It's all so confusing… I mean a couple weeks ago, I hadn't really even considered being gay that much. But now… I'm daydreamin' 'bout guys. Sheesh, I even woke up wet this morning from that dream I had about Seto … I didn't know I could dream that vividly.'
Lost in thought Jounouchi blindly wandered the pathways, hands in pockets and mind in the gutter. And as he wandered, the sky darkened and very few people were even about.
Jou sat down on the ledge around the fountain in the centre of the park. It was just a basic fountain that shot water into the air, but there were Sakura blossoms floating in it. Jou stood transfixed by their beauty. Watching the fragile petals float on the inky dark water. A slight breeze began to blow, gently moving his blonde locks. He smiled slightly, enjoying the serene scenery.
He was so absorbed in its beauty that he didn't hear anything. Two hands gently slipped around his waist.
"GYAH!" Jounouchi's elbow flew back, nailing the person in the stomach. But in his panic Jounouchi was set off balance and he began to fall… towards the fountain.
SPLASH.
The single duck that had been in the pond when he fell squawked and flew off. Jounouchi coughed and stared up at the person he had elbowed. Standing hunched over was none other than Seto Kaiba, and man did he look pissed.
"What the hell?" Seto spat, holding his stomach. "I TRY to be fucking nice, and what the hell do you do? You try and force my stomach out through my spine!"
Jounouchi stared at him stupidly, "Kaiba?"
Seto's eye twitched. "Why do I bother? You're clearly not worth my time!" He spun around slowly and began storming off. (or trying to, since it was rather difficult still because Jounouchi had hit him pretty hard.)
"Wait!" Jounouchi sputtered and splashed some water fruitlessly. The inside of the fountain was rather slippery; he was having trouble getting out. "Um… a little help here?"
"Why should I help you?"
"Because I want you to… I like you." Jou smiled stupidly and extended a water slick hand. "And if you leave me here I might die of pneumonia."
Seto stared into Jou's eyes. After grinding his teeth for a moment he took the blonde by the hand and pulled him out of the cold water. "What were you doing spaced out like that anyways?"
"I was enjoyin' the view. Got a problem with that?" Now that he was out of the water the wind was able to get at his wet clothes and he began to shiver.
Noticing how Jou trembled slightly Seto sighed. "Come on, lets get you home before you catch cold."
Jounouchi sneezed. "Might be a bit late for that."
"It's your own fault." Seto spat and began down the paved path.
"How is it my fault? You're the one who sneaked up on me."
"Snuck."
"Whatever." Jou hurried along behind his companion and scowled. "Where are you takin' me anyways?"
"To your house, where else?"
"Well, we're headed the wrong way."
Seto stopped and spun on the blonde. They were mere centimetres away. "What did you say?" He over-pronounced each word.
"I said. We're. Going. The. Wrong. Way." Jou said slowly and crossed his arms.
Seto's fist clenched at his side and he scowled at the blonde. "Why didn't you say so in the first place?"
"I figured you were takin' me someplace else."
The brunette raised his hand, but merely sighed in exasperation. "Fine, lead the way."
"Right." Jou smiled faintly and wrapped a sopping wet arm through one of Seto's. "I'll show you to my place, and maybe you can help me find out where my dad hid the plates."
"Plates?" Seto tried to free his arm from the very wet clutches of Jounouchi, but it was useless. The damage had already been done; his precious coat was already wet.
"Yah, my dad hid them on me. Along with the cups 'n knives. Even said he hid the can opener."
Seto was silent for a moment. He was clearly having trouble comprehending what Jounouchi was saying. "Did he… justify why he did all of this?"
"Note said he didn't want me to kill maself."
"How would one kill oneself with a can opener?" Seto asked after a minute.
"I was trying to figure that one out earlier. I really have no clue though."
Seto just shrugged, he accepted the blonde's answer.
They walked the rest of the way in silence, arms looped together and Jounouchi dripping wet
---
Dm-San got the chapter title contest thingee… mostly because I tormented her on IM and told her that she knew the group. XD But the song was by Cibo Matto. Probably one of my all-time favourite groups.
Responses.
To Vulpes, Demon of fuzzy ears: I think it is canon…
To Shadowivy: Like you I despise that angle. .;; sure he can be an asshole, but that doesn't make him an abusive rapist.
To leaf zelindor: Yes, must watch more Fruits Basket. XD That is such a beautiful anime/manga.
To AlesserBeing: ::stares at naked plushie:: umm… spankuu. That's the most amusing reviewer gift I've ever received…
Err, credit goes to Sakata Ri Hojun who suggested Bakura walks in on Seto and Jou in a public washroom.
Anywho. Reviews criticisms are welcome, flames will be mocked.
And I know that Jou's father's a bit OOC… but I really don't care at this point since I like how this went.