Disclaimer: His/theirs. Not mine. (See chapter one for extended prefatory notes.)

Two Hours' Traffic

Chapter Two

"So let me get this straight. Kaiba Corp. took over the entire gaming market and pushed the small shop owners out."

"As near as makes no difference," Sugoroku said darkly. "Still, that's the way of business. But they've also been known to use intimidation—threats, thuggery. And city government—from the mayor right down to the council and judges—is all on the side of KC. 'Good for the economy' they call it—good for lining their pockets."

"Newspapers too," Anzu put in from her perch on the sideboard. Jounouchi, crosslegged on the living room floor, canted his head back to look at her. "There's no question that KC's heavily invested in the media."

"So, with the Game Shop closed and a full head of steam, Grandpa decided it was time to dust off his old organizing techniques from the sixties." Yuugi yawned—he and Jounouchi had talked well into the wee hours the night before. "Sit-ins, work slowdowns, street theater. And the thing just snowballed from there."

Sugoroku settled forward, arms crossed on knees. "Young people nowadays--"

"Hey, that's us!" objected Honda, head propped on his fist as he lay on the floor. Jounouchi's oldest friend still looked like an athlete—powerfully built and clean-cut--though there were shadows around his eyes that Jounouchi didn't remember from before.

The old man tsked. "I'm thinking of the high schoolers, the middle schoolers. Care-for-nothings. Well, they care, but they want to create commotion more than anything."

"They did bring the idea up for discussion at the last meeting, Grandpa."

"But they didn't accept the group decision. No, they just listened, nodded, then went by themselves and did it anyway." Sugoroku got up with an audible creak and headed for the kitchen.

"Awright, I'm lost again. Just what did these high schoolers or whoever do?"

"Vandalized the KC statue—that white dragon—painted blood dripping from its mouth and wrote 'Death to KC' or some such," Honda told him.

"No, that wasn't it," Yuugi said over Jounouchi's low whistle. "It was 'Blood of Domino' and 'KC Out of Domino City,' only Dinosaur didn't get to complete the message."

Everyone turned to look at him.

"I was passing by on my lunch break, and ran over when I saw it happening—but there was no way of getting across the street in time to stop him."

"Dinosaur wouldn't've listened anyway," muttered Honda, tugging at one of Jounouchi's shoelaces; Jounouchi glared and shoved the hand away.

"And it was right then that Kaiba came out of the KC Tower?" Anzu asked.

Yuugi nodded, jumping up to take a tray of steaming cups of coffee from his grandfather.

"And you said—Is it true he, personally, knocked Ryuuzaki out?" Honda sat up.

"A grown man striking a high schooler! Disgraceful."

"Kaiba's no older than us, Grandpa."

"Hey, I thought Kaiba was an old man."

Sugoroku wiped coffee droplets off his mustache. "No, this is the son—the father died some years back. I'd be impressed by the son's entrepreneurship if he had anything else to redeem him, but so far as I can tell he has no heart."

Anzu drained her mug and slid to the floor. "Everyone has a heart. It's learning to use it that's the problem. Jounouchi--" she reached down to give him a one-armed squeeze, "come find me at work sometime and I'll treat you to lunch. Yuugi'll tell you where." She winked at him, dusted a kiss over the top of Yuugi's head, waved to Sugoroku and Honda and was gone.

"Well, maybe it's time all of you headed out to enjoy your Saturday before the July heat sets in. I have a few calls to make."

"Get the feeling we're being dismissed?" Honda stage-whispered to Jounouchi as they got up. "No wonder Dinosaur goes off on his own, if Grandpa throws his weight around this way. 'Group decision' my ass!"

Sugoroku merely sniffed in response, but caught hold of Jounouchi's jacket and tugged him down to stare the young man in the eye. "You—take care of Yuugi. It's mere luck he wasn't hurt along with Ryuuzaki."

"Sure, Gramps," laughed Jounouchi after the barest pause. "Trust Master Jounouchi—I'm back to set Domino City to rights!" He struck a pose.

Honda snorted, Yuugi grinned and even Sugoroku gave a reluctant chuckle. "It's good to have you back, boy."

"For comic relief if nothing more!" inserted Honda, flinging an arm around Jounouchi's shoulders. The three friends loped through the bare-shelved Game Shop and out the door to the familiar jingle of the bell.

"The day's half done! Wake up, Mophead!"

Mokuba glared at the rattling doorknob. Blocking a yawn, he dragged across the floor and yanked open the door.

Impeccably dressed as usual, Otogi grinned at him. "I knew that would get you out of bed."

"Like your hair is so conservatively cut," grumbled Mokuba, trailing down the stairs after his brother's boyfriend.

"Ah, but mine is a carefully chosen and maintained style—yours is an absence of style." Without turning around, Otogi raised a monitory finger. "Don't make that face at me unless you want to cook your own breakfast."

Suddenly, the morning seemed brighter. Mokuba bounced down the last few steps and came up alongside Otogi as the elder turned off into the kitchen.

"So how is life as a house-husband?" he asked.

A balled-up dishtowel whizzed toward his head. He ducked.

"Watch it, kid. Remember, I'm around here much more often than your brother is."

"I want to know!" Mokuba protested. He watched Otogi tilt a spoonful of batter over the waiting waffle iron. A satisfying sizzle, with matching scent, soon overlaid the mumbled complaints of the espresso machine.

Otogi thumped a tumblerful of orange juice in front of Mokuba, then settled on the arm of his chair. "Drink," he ordered. Mokuba complied.

"It's not so bad," Otogi said after a moment. "I miss the old neighborhood sometimes, and with the PR and wining and dining I've been doing for KC it's been all too easy to avoid working on my master's thesis. But! I've enjoyed getting accustomed to this lifestyle. And," he leaned to whisper in Mokuba's ear, "your brother makes sweet love to me."

"Eew!" yelped Mokuba. "I did not need to know that!"

Otogi got up to check on the waffle iron. "Don't tell me you're a prude, not after all that time hanging out with your boarding-school friends. I know what goes on at those places." A golden, toasted disc slid onto a plate; Otogi tipped fresh cream over it and added sliced strawberries. Mokuba said nothing.

"Of course—how could I expect someone who grew up with Seto to be straightforward about sex?" Otogi continued, presenting the plate to Mokuba with a flourish. "He is worried about you, though. Hopes you'll find yourself a nice girl and settle down."

Mokuba snorted. "He never said that."

"True. All he says is, 'I hope things are easier for Mokuba.' But he did ask me once if you ever let slip anything about any women you were dating."

"Didn't have time to date."

"Riiight."

Mokuba swallowed a fluffy bite, then fixed Otogi with a beady eye. "I didn't find anyone who interested me, okay? So the two of you can back off."

Otogi responded with an unblinking green stare.

"Maybe I'll meet someone 'suitable' by your lights at one of these shindigs you're cooking up," Mokuba offered. "What is next on the KC social calendar, anyway?"

Otogi accepted the diversion. "Oh—there's a little get-together on July 7. Some brat's birthday—oh yeah, my boyfriend's kid brother." He dodged the much-abused dishtowel hurled his way by an outraged Mokuba. "Seto insisted we rent the whole of 'BigWeb' downtown—he remembers how much you loved the one back where you grew up."

Mokuba paused with a forkful of waffle halfway to his mouth. "But I hardly know anyone in Domino! Who's going to come?"

Otogi slid a mug of espresso over to him. His laugh was as dark as the brew. "Don't worry, Seto knows enough people for the both of you."

-end chapter two-

Note: Just for kicks, I've made Dinosaur Ryuuzaki a couple of years younger than he is canonically (he's supposed to be only a year or so behind Yuugi-tachi).

Note #2: Another thing about the names—yep, mostly they're going around calling each other by their surnames; again, it's because it's what I'm used to hearing on my Yu-Gi-Oh! DVDs. Think of it as a dialectal quirk of the community. ::sweatdrops::

Response to reviewers:

To After'blade: Thanks, dear! ::hugs::

To Tekli: Your review perked me up at a low point! As you'll see, your character guesses are pretty much right on. What are your favorite Bard plays? I was contemplating a JouKai version of Much Ado at one time, but it all came to...er...nothing.