Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue.
"Kaiba? How'd you get this number?"
"I have my connections."
There was a few moments of awkward silence and Jou shifted nervously in his spot on the mattress, one of the springs were sticking out on angle, resulting in a bit of discomfort. "Um...what do you wanna talk about?"
There was a muffled voice on the other line before Kaiba spoke up again, "Pup..." another noise, "I mean, Jounouchi, I'd be honored if you would accompany me on a date tomorrow evening."
Jou would have fell, if he wasn't already sitting. "What's the catch? Why are you being so nice about this?"
"There's no catch. You won the contest fair and square and I am prepared to follow through with this." Came the calm reply.
Jou thought about telling him that he didn't actually enter the contest himself, but figured he was better off not explaining. If this was the beginning of truce between himself and the arrogant billionaire, then who was Jou to deny it?
"Alright...I guess if you're okay with this, then I am too."
"Good. I will pick you up at seven tomorrow night, be ready. The event will probably be televised, so try and make yourself at least moderately presentable. I know that might be a challenge." There was another strange noise at the other end of the line and Jou could have sworn he heard a slight noise of pain from Kaiba, but decided not to ask.
"Alright, see you tomorrow." Jou put down the receiver before Kaiba could say anything else to piss him off, but he couldn't help but wonder. Why was the CEO being so civil all of a sudden? At least, as civil as was possible for the ice cold man.
* * *
"He said yes." Seto snapped his cell-phone shut and looked over at Mokuba who was cheering. "Did you have to hit me?"
Mokuba stopped his celebration for a moment to glare up at his older brother. "You COULD have been a bit nicer to him."
"No I couldn't have, it's not what he expects from me. If I were to be sweet to him, he would think I was setting him up for a fall."
"I guess you're right."
Seto shrugged, "They don't call me a genius for nothing."
"My big brother's first real date!" Mokaba clapped his hands together and tried to reach up and pinch Seto's cheek before he was swatted away. "I'm so proud!"
"Would you stop, I'm trying to drive!" Seto turned his attention back to the road, trying to ignore his over enthusiastic brother, who was now humming an annoying tune.
"Seto and Jou, sitting in a tree..."
"Would you knock it off?!"
"Sorry, I'm just excited! This is going to be SO fun!"
"I'm glad you think so." Seto sighed, trying not to let his brother on to how nervous he actually was. Even though it was just the mutt, he felt the need to make the date perfect. Who would expect anything less from the great Seto Kaiba? Failure was never an option.
The only problem with this scenario was the fact that this was something that was defiantly not his strong suit. Human interaction.
Seto flicked on his signaling light with a bit of misplaced anger as they turned into the driveway of the vast Kaiba estate. This was going to be a challenge, and he knew it.
"Seto, are you alright?" Mokuba turned to his brother who seemed to be in deep thought.
"I'm fine, just thinking."
"Thinking about Jooou?"
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." Seto replied as he stepped out of the car and began to stalk off towards the mansion. Mokuba ran to catch up with his brother's long strides, calling out just as Seto opened the door.
"You're cute when you blush you know!"
* * *
Jounouchi checked his watch; 5:15, and glanced around the occupants of the room, who were all looking at him expectantly. Less than two hours left till the date. Finally the blond took a deep breath and decided to tell them why they we're all gathered together.
"Guys, listen, you've never let me down before...and I really need you now."
"What is it Jou?" Asked Yugi, whose house they were in right now. It seemed to be the standard gathering spot for the group, seeing as how it was always stocked with fresh chips and soda.
"I need you to make me look pretty."
Honda immediately laughed, quickly ceasing after he saw Jou send him a look that practically screamed, 'I'm still mad at you asshole, so don't push you're luck.' Yugi seemed surprised, but it was hard to tell, seeing as how he always had that wide-eyed, deer caught in headlights look. Anzu was the first to recover.
"Jou...we're you the one who stole my miniskirt?"
"No!! I'm not a cross-dresser!"
"Then why do you want to look pretty? Although..." Anzu paused to think for a moment (a/n Anzu: "Ow! That hurt! I'll never try that again!"...sorry, couldn't help myself...") "You'd make a pretty cute girl."
"That's not what I'm here for! It's for the date tonight. Kaiba said I had to look presentable..." Jou glanced down at the ripped jeans and stained white shirt, "I don't think this is what he had in mind."
"Wait a minute...you beat the crap out of me because you we're pissed off about the date, and now you're acting like a giddy school girl? What's up with that?" Honda asked, sounding amazed.
"I'm NOT acting like a giddy school girl, and if you say that again, I'll make sure you can't walk in the morning."
"Oooh..." Bakura grinned suggestively, "Kinky."
"Bakura! Behave yourself!!" Ryou scolded, who had just run in from the kitchen wearing an apron and waving a spoon in yami's face. "Bad, very, very BAD! I ought to beat you with this spoon!"
"Again, kinky."
"Oh, you hentai!" Ryou turned to the others who we're looking at him strangely. "Uh...I'm just making some brownies...baking help relax me...um. Hope you don't mind Yugi?"
"Not at all." Yugi smiled, the kind of smile you give to insane people so you don't set them off.
"Smashing!" Ryou beamed and went back in the kitchen to relive some stress.
"I won't ask." Jou shook his head. "Anyway back to me now....uh, help?"
"Okay Jou! We'll do it!" Yugi spoke for the whole group.
"Oh this is going to be so fun! All us friends together, doing friendship stuff, bonding as one and being all friendly and cute and..." Anzu stopped her ramble when she noticed everyone glaring at her with daggers in their eyes. "What?"
"Anzu, you know what we need to make Jou look pretty? Some of that special lotion they only sell at that chinese place." Honda stated.
"But... that place is like two hours away."
"Kay, have fun!" Honda dropped his car keys in her hand and pushed her out the door before you could say 'friendship speech'.
"Honda..." Jou walked up to his friend and placed a hand on this shoulder. "I love you man!"
"Ahh, watch it!" Honda gasped out as Jou glomped him, "I'm still sore from yesterday...don't even say it Bakura."
* * *
It had only taken an about an hour to get Jou looking 'pretty'. Ryou had went back to his place to grab some suitable clothes, Yugi tried to do something with his hair but it ended up falling back into the same mess after a couple of minutes. Jou was currently getting a little pep talk from Yami, when Bakura came over.
"Can I borrow him?"
Yami crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow. "Will I get him back alive?"
"Of course!" Bakura said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"Do as you wish." Yami waved his had dismissively.
"Thank you all mighty pharaoh..." Yami rolled his eyes as Bakura mock bowed and then pulled Jou to the side.
"Take this." The spirit handed him a black velvet case and locked around suspiciously, like he was afraid of being caught.
"What is this? Um, do I even want to know?" Jou asked, feeling a bit uneasy.
"Open it."
Jou did as he was commanded and slid open the case, reveling at small switchblade, the handle was caved with skulls into some kind of bone material. "What the..."
"Just incase that wacko priest tries anything...you're not comfortable with..." Bakura covered back up the item and shoved it roughly back into the boy's hands.
"Wow, thanks Bakura, that's...almost sweet of you."
"Yeah, yeah, just don't tell anybody or I'll take one of your fingers off."
* * *
Seto ran his hands through his hair nervously and checked his watch for the seventh time that minute. The mutt wasn't answering his doorbell and it was already fifteen minutes past seven. The damn mutt was late. Damn that mutt.
Seto stared the car and began to drive down the road, ready to drive back to the security of his mansion and forget this whole thing when he spotted Jou running down the street. He pulled to a stop and rolled down the window as the blond caught up with him.
"Kaiba! I'm so sorry, I forgot you we're gunna pick me up from here..." Jou stopped to catch his breath. "I was at Yugi's."
"Didn't anyone ever tell you that chasing cars is dangerous puppy?"
"You know, for a smart guy like you, you think you'd be able to come up with some new material once and a while."
"Just get in the car." Seto rolled up the window and waited for a few moments in silence before he passenger side door swung open and Jou plopped himself down on the plush leather interior.
"So...where are we going?" Jou asked as he fiddled with the high-tech radio looking contraption.
"It's a surprise." Seto stated flatly, showing no hint of emotion in his voice. Reaching over to shift into second gear, Seto's hand lightly brushed against the blonde's knee causing both boys to tense slightly.
"Uh...sorry." Jou shifted so that he was as far away from the driver's seat as humanly possible.
The silence continued for a few minutes. Seto chanced a look over at Jou, who was staring out the window, watching the trees and buildings whiz by. He was surprised and impressed to see him looking decent for once, infact, even better than decent maybe...
"Ah, shit Kaiba! Keep you're eye on the road will ya!" Jou gasped out as the car swerved to the right and almost mowed down a fire hydrant.
Seto gripped the steering wheel harder and tried not flinch as Jou reached close to him to play with the radio again.
This was going to be a long night.
* * *
Back at Yugi's place, everyone was making bets on how long the date would last before one of them killed the other, when Anzu walked through the front door.
"I got the lotion! ...Where's Jou?"
"He left already." Yami counted some money and placed it in the pot. "Twenty bucks on thirty-five minutes."
Anzu glanced around the room as everyone gambled, when it finally dawned on her what was going on. "Oh...you guys are SO mean! Sending me out just to get rid of me!! You know that stopped being funny after the first five times!"
Satanic Mechanic: Bwhaha!! Let the sexual tension begin.
Yeah, I know, the date keeps getting pushed back. But as you can see, it will defiantly be next chapter. I've got a lot of ideas for it now, thanks to all you nice reviewers!
This chapter came out weird...I'm in a weird mood I guess. Oh, yeah, about the whole Ryou/Bakura thing. I dunno, I just love the image of Ryou being like this house-wife type person, and Bakura being the bad kid that always gets in trouble...so yeah...weirdness.
And lastly,
To Dillon: I've heard about this place before. I'd love to join! But do you have to be a yahoo member?
"Kaiba? How'd you get this number?"
"I have my connections."
There was a few moments of awkward silence and Jou shifted nervously in his spot on the mattress, one of the springs were sticking out on angle, resulting in a bit of discomfort. "Um...what do you wanna talk about?"
There was a muffled voice on the other line before Kaiba spoke up again, "Pup..." another noise, "I mean, Jounouchi, I'd be honored if you would accompany me on a date tomorrow evening."
Jou would have fell, if he wasn't already sitting. "What's the catch? Why are you being so nice about this?"
"There's no catch. You won the contest fair and square and I am prepared to follow through with this." Came the calm reply.
Jou thought about telling him that he didn't actually enter the contest himself, but figured he was better off not explaining. If this was the beginning of truce between himself and the arrogant billionaire, then who was Jou to deny it?
"Alright...I guess if you're okay with this, then I am too."
"Good. I will pick you up at seven tomorrow night, be ready. The event will probably be televised, so try and make yourself at least moderately presentable. I know that might be a challenge." There was another strange noise at the other end of the line and Jou could have sworn he heard a slight noise of pain from Kaiba, but decided not to ask.
"Alright, see you tomorrow." Jou put down the receiver before Kaiba could say anything else to piss him off, but he couldn't help but wonder. Why was the CEO being so civil all of a sudden? At least, as civil as was possible for the ice cold man.
* * *
"He said yes." Seto snapped his cell-phone shut and looked over at Mokuba who was cheering. "Did you have to hit me?"
Mokuba stopped his celebration for a moment to glare up at his older brother. "You COULD have been a bit nicer to him."
"No I couldn't have, it's not what he expects from me. If I were to be sweet to him, he would think I was setting him up for a fall."
"I guess you're right."
Seto shrugged, "They don't call me a genius for nothing."
"My big brother's first real date!" Mokaba clapped his hands together and tried to reach up and pinch Seto's cheek before he was swatted away. "I'm so proud!"
"Would you stop, I'm trying to drive!" Seto turned his attention back to the road, trying to ignore his over enthusiastic brother, who was now humming an annoying tune.
"Seto and Jou, sitting in a tree..."
"Would you knock it off?!"
"Sorry, I'm just excited! This is going to be SO fun!"
"I'm glad you think so." Seto sighed, trying not to let his brother on to how nervous he actually was. Even though it was just the mutt, he felt the need to make the date perfect. Who would expect anything less from the great Seto Kaiba? Failure was never an option.
The only problem with this scenario was the fact that this was something that was defiantly not his strong suit. Human interaction.
Seto flicked on his signaling light with a bit of misplaced anger as they turned into the driveway of the vast Kaiba estate. This was going to be a challenge, and he knew it.
"Seto, are you alright?" Mokuba turned to his brother who seemed to be in deep thought.
"I'm fine, just thinking."
"Thinking about Jooou?"
"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." Seto replied as he stepped out of the car and began to stalk off towards the mansion. Mokuba ran to catch up with his brother's long strides, calling out just as Seto opened the door.
"You're cute when you blush you know!"
* * *
Jounouchi checked his watch; 5:15, and glanced around the occupants of the room, who were all looking at him expectantly. Less than two hours left till the date. Finally the blond took a deep breath and decided to tell them why they we're all gathered together.
"Guys, listen, you've never let me down before...and I really need you now."
"What is it Jou?" Asked Yugi, whose house they were in right now. It seemed to be the standard gathering spot for the group, seeing as how it was always stocked with fresh chips and soda.
"I need you to make me look pretty."
Honda immediately laughed, quickly ceasing after he saw Jou send him a look that practically screamed, 'I'm still mad at you asshole, so don't push you're luck.' Yugi seemed surprised, but it was hard to tell, seeing as how he always had that wide-eyed, deer caught in headlights look. Anzu was the first to recover.
"Jou...we're you the one who stole my miniskirt?"
"No!! I'm not a cross-dresser!"
"Then why do you want to look pretty? Although..." Anzu paused to think for a moment (a/n Anzu: "Ow! That hurt! I'll never try that again!"...sorry, couldn't help myself...") "You'd make a pretty cute girl."
"That's not what I'm here for! It's for the date tonight. Kaiba said I had to look presentable..." Jou glanced down at the ripped jeans and stained white shirt, "I don't think this is what he had in mind."
"Wait a minute...you beat the crap out of me because you we're pissed off about the date, and now you're acting like a giddy school girl? What's up with that?" Honda asked, sounding amazed.
"I'm NOT acting like a giddy school girl, and if you say that again, I'll make sure you can't walk in the morning."
"Oooh..." Bakura grinned suggestively, "Kinky."
"Bakura! Behave yourself!!" Ryou scolded, who had just run in from the kitchen wearing an apron and waving a spoon in yami's face. "Bad, very, very BAD! I ought to beat you with this spoon!"
"Again, kinky."
"Oh, you hentai!" Ryou turned to the others who we're looking at him strangely. "Uh...I'm just making some brownies...baking help relax me...um. Hope you don't mind Yugi?"
"Not at all." Yugi smiled, the kind of smile you give to insane people so you don't set them off.
"Smashing!" Ryou beamed and went back in the kitchen to relive some stress.
"I won't ask." Jou shook his head. "Anyway back to me now....uh, help?"
"Okay Jou! We'll do it!" Yugi spoke for the whole group.
"Oh this is going to be so fun! All us friends together, doing friendship stuff, bonding as one and being all friendly and cute and..." Anzu stopped her ramble when she noticed everyone glaring at her with daggers in their eyes. "What?"
"Anzu, you know what we need to make Jou look pretty? Some of that special lotion they only sell at that chinese place." Honda stated.
"But... that place is like two hours away."
"Kay, have fun!" Honda dropped his car keys in her hand and pushed her out the door before you could say 'friendship speech'.
"Honda..." Jou walked up to his friend and placed a hand on this shoulder. "I love you man!"
"Ahh, watch it!" Honda gasped out as Jou glomped him, "I'm still sore from yesterday...don't even say it Bakura."
* * *
It had only taken an about an hour to get Jou looking 'pretty'. Ryou had went back to his place to grab some suitable clothes, Yugi tried to do something with his hair but it ended up falling back into the same mess after a couple of minutes. Jou was currently getting a little pep talk from Yami, when Bakura came over.
"Can I borrow him?"
Yami crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow. "Will I get him back alive?"
"Of course!" Bakura said, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.
"Do as you wish." Yami waved his had dismissively.
"Thank you all mighty pharaoh..." Yami rolled his eyes as Bakura mock bowed and then pulled Jou to the side.
"Take this." The spirit handed him a black velvet case and locked around suspiciously, like he was afraid of being caught.
"What is this? Um, do I even want to know?" Jou asked, feeling a bit uneasy.
"Open it."
Jou did as he was commanded and slid open the case, reveling at small switchblade, the handle was caved with skulls into some kind of bone material. "What the..."
"Just incase that wacko priest tries anything...you're not comfortable with..." Bakura covered back up the item and shoved it roughly back into the boy's hands.
"Wow, thanks Bakura, that's...almost sweet of you."
"Yeah, yeah, just don't tell anybody or I'll take one of your fingers off."
* * *
Seto ran his hands through his hair nervously and checked his watch for the seventh time that minute. The mutt wasn't answering his doorbell and it was already fifteen minutes past seven. The damn mutt was late. Damn that mutt.
Seto stared the car and began to drive down the road, ready to drive back to the security of his mansion and forget this whole thing when he spotted Jou running down the street. He pulled to a stop and rolled down the window as the blond caught up with him.
"Kaiba! I'm so sorry, I forgot you we're gunna pick me up from here..." Jou stopped to catch his breath. "I was at Yugi's."
"Didn't anyone ever tell you that chasing cars is dangerous puppy?"
"You know, for a smart guy like you, you think you'd be able to come up with some new material once and a while."
"Just get in the car." Seto rolled up the window and waited for a few moments in silence before he passenger side door swung open and Jou plopped himself down on the plush leather interior.
"So...where are we going?" Jou asked as he fiddled with the high-tech radio looking contraption.
"It's a surprise." Seto stated flatly, showing no hint of emotion in his voice. Reaching over to shift into second gear, Seto's hand lightly brushed against the blonde's knee causing both boys to tense slightly.
"Uh...sorry." Jou shifted so that he was as far away from the driver's seat as humanly possible.
The silence continued for a few minutes. Seto chanced a look over at Jou, who was staring out the window, watching the trees and buildings whiz by. He was surprised and impressed to see him looking decent for once, infact, even better than decent maybe...
"Ah, shit Kaiba! Keep you're eye on the road will ya!" Jou gasped out as the car swerved to the right and almost mowed down a fire hydrant.
Seto gripped the steering wheel harder and tried not flinch as Jou reached close to him to play with the radio again.
This was going to be a long night.
* * *
Back at Yugi's place, everyone was making bets on how long the date would last before one of them killed the other, when Anzu walked through the front door.
"I got the lotion! ...Where's Jou?"
"He left already." Yami counted some money and placed it in the pot. "Twenty bucks on thirty-five minutes."
Anzu glanced around the room as everyone gambled, when it finally dawned on her what was going on. "Oh...you guys are SO mean! Sending me out just to get rid of me!! You know that stopped being funny after the first five times!"
Satanic Mechanic: Bwhaha!! Let the sexual tension begin.
Yeah, I know, the date keeps getting pushed back. But as you can see, it will defiantly be next chapter. I've got a lot of ideas for it now, thanks to all you nice reviewers!
This chapter came out weird...I'm in a weird mood I guess. Oh, yeah, about the whole Ryou/Bakura thing. I dunno, I just love the image of Ryou being like this house-wife type person, and Bakura being the bad kid that always gets in trouble...so yeah...weirdness.
And lastly,
To Dillon: I've heard about this place before. I'd love to join! But do you have to be a yahoo member?