Jigsaw
Jou stopped staring at the ceiling and turned for the hundredth time that night. He couldn't sleep, and so he was thinking instead. He was thinking about life, about friends, about love. Love. He turned to his right and looked at the body lying next to his, the brown head nestled on the pillow, face turned away from him. He sighed a little, still lost in thought.
"I swear, if you reach out and stroke my head, I'll bite you. That's just too clichéd."
Jou grinned, even though he was sure he might have been tempted to do such a thing if he hadn't been interrupted.
"I didn't think you were still awake," he said instead.
"All your tossing and turning kept me up. Not to mention the staring. You're lucky I only need three hours of sleep a night anyway." Seto rolled his head to the left to face Jou, without moving the rest of him. He blinked up at the blond enquiringly.
"Why have you suddenly become a tosser?"
"I prefer turner, thank you," Jou said lightly, not commenting on Seto's awful pun.
"Whatever. It's keeping me up. What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking." He hoped Seto wouldn't make a joke about it. He didn't; perhaps he sensed Jou's truly introspective mood. Or maybe the really clever jokes only came when he was wide awake.
"In the middle of the night? What could possibly be so interesting?"
Jou pulled himself up on his side, propping his head up on his hand. "You."
Seto raised an eyebrow, holding back a smile. "What about me? Is this a complaint? If so, I'd rather not hear it just now. Maybe after my morning coffee."
"It's not a complaint. Though I got plenty of those." Jou almost stuck his tongue out at Seto, but settled for putting on a semi-annoyed expression.
"Then what?" Seto asked.
Jou shrugged as best he could, and said "I was thinking more about us. You probably wouldn't wanna hear it anyways."
"Why not?" Seto asked, seeming a little irritated. But it was only a very mild irritation, like an imagined rash, and Jou wasn't worried. "I'm already awake. You might was well," Seto said plainly.
"Okay," Jou shrugged again. He'd tell Seto what he was thinking. He was sure no harm could come of it, except that he might be made fun of later. Or now, if Seto wasn't too sleepy. "I was thinking that we're like complete opposites, but we just fit together, you know?" He looked at Seto expectantly, but he was just regarding him with cool blue eyes. He lifted his brows a little, silently asking Jou to go on. Jou tried to organise his thoughts properly, so that Seto would understand him completely.
"I mean – okay. I've got blond hair, you've got brown hair." He reached out to touch Seto's head with his free hand, and he was not bitten, as threatened. He threaded his fingers through the hair at Seto's temple, and continued.
"I've got brown eyes, you've got blue eyes," he said, his thumb tracing around the corner of Seto's eye.
"You're so pale, like snow. And I'm darker, like sand," he said, pulling his hand down the side of Seto's head, dragging his thumb lightly along his cheek and down his neck. He brought his hand to rest flat on Seto's chest, and noted that Seto was paying him rapt attention.
"My boyish handsomeness is striking, while your gorgeousness is garden-variety," he added, smirking a little when Seto rolled his eyes. His smile faded a little as he continued, again serious.
"I'm really loud and a little wild, and you're not at all," he said a little wryly. "You're a certified genius, and I'm-" here Jou snorted softly "-definitely not. You always think twice about everything, and I never look before I leap." He inched down a little, to bring his face closer to Seto's.
"I'm a pretty friendly guy, and I'm nice – mostly. And you can't help it, you're – you're just really, really mean. I think you even like being that horrible." Jou chuckled a little, and Seto let him, the tilt of his lips betraying that he was actually enjoying Jou's description of him.
"I used to think you were kinda empty, you know? But I know you've got this sense of purpose, and this – this drive that I could never hope to match." Jou had been staring at his hand on Seto's chest for a while now, and Seto saw him start to frown slightly. "You're stubborn to a fault; you don't open up nearly as much as you should; and I already said mean, didn't I? You're sarcastic and-"
"Hey!" Seto butted in, definitely looking a little annoyed. "I thought you were doing opposites."
"Yeah, sorry. Got a little sidetracked." He looked apologetic enough, and Seto stopped glaring.
"Anyways, the point is, we're all light and dark, more and less -"
"Love and hate, yin and yang. I get it," Seto finished softly. Jou looked at him, nodding gently. "Yeah. Something like that."
"Opposites attract, isn't that what they say?" Seto said, moving his hand to cover Jou's. He didn't see anything wrong in indulging Jou's admittedly sappy behaviour. It didn't happen often, and when it did, he was usually inclined to squash it before it got too emotional; but it was late, he'd let it slide tonight.
"Yeah, they say that," Jou said. "But I think we're more like a jigsaw puzzle." He was pretty sure Seto understood, but he continued anyway.
"As different as we are, we just, fit, you know? What you don't have, I've got, and where I leave off, you start again. There's a sameness that holds us together. Maybe there were pieces that didn't fit right before, but we've changed, we've grown into each other. All the rough edges've been worn down, and now all the pieces just lock perfectly together…" Jou laced his fingers on Seto's chest with the hand above his. They looked at their intertwined hands for a moment, and then Jou continued.
"Face it, we were made for each other. I know you don't believe in fate or destiny, or anything like that, but I believe enough for both of us. We aren't a coincidence; we were meant to be, kiddo." He shrugged lamely; he didn't really have anything else to say. He waited for the ridicule to begin.
Seto finally raised himself up to face his blond counterpart, mirroring Jou's position exactly. Their clasped hands fell between them. Jou could see that his words had affected Seto; he always looked particularly blank when he was having an emotion.
"You're right," he said. "I don't believe in fate. We shape our lives the best way we can, and although we can't control everything, we're far from passengers. Either way, I think it comes down to about the same thing. Opposites, equals." Seto smiled slightly at Jou, who reciprocated enthusiastically and then promptly yawned. He was feeling a lot better now that he'd gotten all that off his chest.
"I'm sleepy," Jou mumbled, flopping down onto his back. He turned on his other side so that his back was to Seto, and they curled into each other, legs entwined, Seto's arm slung over Jou's waist.
"Well, goodnight then, puppy," Seto said, reaching up to kiss Jou in the vicinity of his forehead. Jou snickered.
"And you thought I was being clichéd? If that wasn't typical night time lover behaviour, I don't know what is," Jou said into his pillow. Despite his ornery words, he smiled a little.
"Not all clichés are bad. I don't mind that one too much," Seto replied softly. After a short silence, Jou heard Seto "Hmph," and drowsily asked what was wrong.
"Who knew you thought about anything other than food," was the amused reply.
"Ugh! I knew that was coming! Don't you start with me!" Jou tried to fling Seto's hand off his waist but was sadly unsuccessful. He settled back against Seto's chest and sighed. "You're lucky I'm so sleepy. You're gonna get it tomorrow."
"As long as it's after my coffee," Seto said into Jou's hair.
"Whatever," Jou muttered, sliding off into sleep.
Seto remained awake for only a few more minutes, but he turned over all Jou had said in his mind. He understood Jou, and agreed wholeheartedly. He'd never really thought about their relationship in terms of symbols and metaphors, but thought that Jou had come up with the right one. His eyes drifted closed as he pulled Jou closer to him, and they spent the rest of the night locked together in sleep.
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