Chapter 5

Otogi's house wasn't very far away at all, and he made it there in a little less than fifteen minutes. At top speed. The empty streets begged him to rev the engine harder, to speed along faster. Kaiba pretended that the deafening roar blocked out any and all rational thought, and he unconcernedly zoomed along the midnight black roads, braking only to consult the directions a couple of times.

He felt the music before he heard it, and he heard the music long before he saw the house, even though it was lip up like a Christmas tree. Otogi lived in a very good neighbourhood; almost as good as the one Kaiba lived in. He pulled into someone else's driveway a few houses away from Otogi's because there was no available space in the roads that he could make out, recklessly parked cars stretching as far as the eye could see.

The music was mercilessly loud, and it was unreasonably late. Kaiba couldn't help but feel a little impressed. He was sure that if it were anyone else, this party would have been shut down a long time ago. As it was, the surrounding houses seemed to be nestled in sleep, windows dark, and silent as the grave; undisturbed by the drunken orgy taking place right next door. He shook his head as he approached Otogi's, cursing himself for ever leaving his house.

The large wooden double doors that served as the entrance of Otogi's grandiose three-storey abode were flung wide open, and Kaiba hesitated before he entered. He straightened his dark trench coat, pulled at his black shirt and tugged his low-slung belt, ready to make a dignified entrance. Just because he didn't want to be there didn't mean he shouldn't look good. He took a deep breath, and stepped into the house, calmly taking in the scene that met his eyes while ignoring the shocked glances that many hurled his way.

Whoever he'd heard it from was right – Otogi did throw sensational parties.

The decorations, Kaiba had to admit, were excellent. White and champagne-coloured streamers were suspended from the ceiling at every conceivable point. Bubbles floated around above him, seemingly from nowhere, and buckets of ice with champagne bottles firmly planted in them were strategically placed all around. And that was just the foyer. The foyer was connected to two huge rooms, the living room on the left, and a sitting room, or something like that, on the right. All the tables and chairs had been removed, making room for a number of chaise lounge chairs and couches, which lined the rooms. There were speakers hidden everywhere.

In the middle of each room was a long, high rectangular table, laden with all kinds of food. In the middle of the food in the dead centre of each table, like a trough, was a long rectangular hole. It was just deep enough to hold an absurd amount of ice, and it was studded with sparkling glasses of champagne, like yellow jewels buried in white sand.

There was also a ridiculous amount of people there. It was packed; hot bodies taking up every conceivable inch of space – lounging (or doing other unsavoury things) on the couches, getting inebriated and/or stuffing their faces by the tables, dancing or talking in the space between the two. There were too many people there for his liking, and he felt as if his personal space was being severely violated. As people brushed by him left, right and centre, he knew that the party was just picking up. In no time at all, he'd be drowned in the sweat and other bodily fluids of the people who would not stop rubbing against him as he moved from room to room.

What the hell had possessed him to come here? Someone swung a champagne glass and it accidentally caught him in the side of the head, right on his bruise. He barely restrained the urge to drop-kick the tipsy, apologising girl, while concentrating on the smarting behind his eyes. Hurrah for reminders, he thought caustically.

Standing in the foyer again, he tried to look beyond it to work out where Jou would be. There was a staircase that ran upwards along the sitting room wall that led to the second floor. He followed its ascent, eyes roving over the faces of those who littered the steps. The top of the staircase opened onto the second floor landing, in the middle of which a large square area was missing, directly over the foyer.

Kaiba looked at the open space above him, to see people leaning against the banisters that fenced the square area. Some of them were staring down, champagne glasses in hand, into the crowd of people below them, the crowd he was currently a part of. He thought that he might have seen a white-haired boy pass behind the people leaning on the banisters - Bakura, wasn't it? Well, that meant that Yugi and his entourage were certainly here.

He swung his gaze to ground level again. Next to the flight of steps, the foyer gave way to a large hallway that led to the latter rooms of the ground floor. He slinked through the crowd to find out what decadent behaviour was going on and if he could spot Jou in its midst. He might as well find the mutt and get whatever it was he had planned over with, so that he could go home as soon as possible.

He made his way stoically through the people, having to fend off surprisingly few advances. He figured that they were either so drunk that they had moved past the 'reckless affection' stage of intoxication, or weren't that drunk at all and kept their distance because they recognised him. Champagne was, comparatively speaking, light stuff. Either way, the music kept getting louder and louder as he inched through the hallway, booming in his chest and hammering in his head. The walls of the hallway were plastered in pictures and paintings, and he saw the frames vibrating in time with the music.

He soon found the source of the deafening sounds. He had long passed the stairway, and to his left - the room behind the living room - was the dining room, which had been transformed into a spectacular dance floor. It had been cleared of furniture like the other rooms, leaving a massively empty space behind that was now filled with writhing, jumping and undulating bodies. It was dark in there, and the only light came from the rapid flashing of the strobe lights that hung from the ceiling. The DJ's booth stood at the far end of the hall, and colossal speakers encircled the room. The driving beats drowned out all other thought or recourse but dance, which the surging mass undoubtedly had no complaints about.

Before he dove into the crowd, he looked at the opposite room across the hall. It had a small door, unlike the large double sliding door opening of the dining hall, and it was closed. He immediately knew what it was when a woman barrelled out of the swinging door, a plate of some unrecognisable food in hand. As much as he was sure the mutt liked food, Kaiba was equally sure that he wouldn't be in the kitchen. Well, mostly sure, at least.

He looked down toward the end of the hallway, where another large doorway opened up into the terraced back yard, where there was, obviously, an obnoxiously large pool. There were quite a few people lounging around its tiled edges, no doubt escaping the loud music and crushing mob. If he squinted, he could make out Yugi's spiky head, and what looked like a girl standing next to him. No doubt that Mazaki girl; she never left the midget's side if she could help it. Kaiba found her obvious puppy-love quite sickening. He grimaced inwardly, turning again to the dining hall/ dance floor.

He considered the disorderly pile of coats and shoes at the room's entrance, wrinkling his nose in disdain. It was definitely hot – which he hated - and getting hotter; and he was beginning to regret not leaving his trench coat in the car. But there was no way he'd leave his coat (or his shoes) in an unattended heap at a drunken orgy. He'd just have to bear the heat. That bastard had better be in there, he swore. He took a deep breath, and marched into the sea of dancing people.

Here was where all the bubbles were coming from. There was a big bubble-machine suspended from the ceiling amid streamers and balloons, pumping out hundreds of round bubbles which drifted down onto the heads of the dancers, or out of the door. He had a hard time making the rounds of the room. Every few feet, someone's arm shot out and grabbed him, trying to get him to dance with them. He had shoved away at least a dozen sweaty bodies when he saw Honda in front of him from behind a couple of people. He was moving energetically, his beak-shaped hair cutting through the air rhythmically. But there was no Jou in sight. Where the hell was he?

Kaiba covered the rest of the room methodically, and then made his way out, thoroughly pissed. Not only had he wasted at least fifteen minutes, but now he was going to have to search the second floor, too. He was beginning to think that his search for the mutt was more trouble than it was worth, when he spotted him through a number of people as soon as he stepped out of the dining room.

The blond was leaning next to the open kitchen door, chatting up a young girl who stood in the doorway, holding a bucket of ice. Kaiba, quite involuntarily, quickly took in what Jou was wearing. Tight, very low-waisted blue jeans. A casually dressy white button down shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, half unbuttoned. Barefoot, like most of the other people milling about. He had his messy hair brushed back from his face and pulled tightly into the tiniest of ponytails. Jou smiled again at the girl, dazzlingly, and she relented, giving him the bucket of ice. He winked at her as he took the ice, rubbing a chunk of it on his cut lip. She rolled her eyes good-naturedly, and vanished into the kitchen again.

As soon as she was gone, Jou popped the piece of ice into his mouth and reached for another. He tucked the bucket under one arm as he rubbed the ice over his neck and chest with the other. Kaiba tried hard to pry his eyes away from Jou's closed eyes and the wet trail his hand was leaving all over his exposed skin, but was finding it particularly difficult. At that moment, however, the kitchen door swung open again, and a man passed, balancing a tray of champagne glasses above his head. He momentarily blocked Jou from view as he struggled to make it to the front rooms, and Kaiba remembered his mission. Operation Humiliation. Let the embarrassment commence.

He almost made it to the be-trayed man, when the latter finally escaped the human quicksand around him and was swept forward with a swirling current of people. Then Kaiba stopped abruptly. He had almost walked smack into Jou, who had shoved off from the wall while out of sight.

The sea of people roiled around them as they stood still in the middle of the hallway. They eyed each other calmly for a moment, and then Jou spoke – or near-shouted.

"You look hot," he told Kaiba, leaning close.

Maybe he leaned in so close so that he could be heard over the pulsating music, but something in Jou's eyes made Kaiba think that Jou was about two seconds away from grabbing him and attempting to have his way with him. Kaiba was disappointed with Jou's tactics, though. He had come expecting a challenge; last desperate (and hopefully amusing) efforts to secure his love and affection. If Jou thought that a drunken seduction (although clearly neither of them was drunk) would do the trick, then Kaiba had come all this way for nothing. It would be hardly fun at all to turn down Jou's advances, though he'd still do so with relish. Definitely.

Kaiba rolled his eyes in a condescending manner toward Jou, sure to add a hint of impatience to his expression.

"I said you look hot," Jou repeated. He licked his lips and eyed Kaiba. "Ice?"

Jou shoved the bucket into Kaiba's chest, a politely enquiring look on his face.

Kaiba almost smiled. "No thank you. What are you, the help?"

Jou lowered the bucket and blinked his eyes coquettishly. "Far from," he intoned.

Kaiba was about to inform Jou that being the help would definitely be a step up from being the no class punk he already was, but he was interrupted by raucous shouting.

"Make way for your king! Disperse, peons! I said move! That's right!"

True enough, the crowd parted and Otogi strutted down the human corridor, looking every bit the royalty he was proclaiming himself to be, wearing his usual red vest, this time with no undershirt, and black leather pants. He suddenly stopped, mere feet away from Kaiba and Jou, looking puzzled.

"But the king has forgotten where he was going! Quick! Someone give me some champagne!"

"How about some ice?" Jou shouted to him through the cheering people.

Otogi spun around frantically, looking for the phantom voice. Finally picking Jou out, his face lit up like a fireworks display. He shoved through the couple of people separating them and looked Jou in the eye, leaning as close to him as Jou had been leaning to Kaiba just minutes ago.

"And here's the king's princess," he said mischievously, sliding a hand around Jou's neck.

"And here's that ice," Jou returned, pulling Otogi's hand from his neck with one hand, and giving him the bucket with the other. Otogi promptly shoved the bucket blindly at someone behind him, and returned his hand to Jou's neck.

Kaiba watched the exchange, annoyed and irritated. As if he sensed Kaiba's mood, Otogi whipped his head around to look at him.

"Kaiba?" he asked incredulously, having not noticed him before. "Wow, I'm surprised you came. I thought for sure…What made you come?"

Kaiba looked right at Jou. "I'm waiting for an epiphany." Jou smirked, an expression on his face that clearly said 'I know you couldn't stay away.'

Otogi didn't notice the look shared between Jou and Kaiba. "Epiphany?" he asked puzzled. Then, smiling widely, he pronounced, "Well, Kaiba, you're out of luck. We don't have that brand of champagne here." He winked egregiously at Jou, who rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for by the end of the night," Jou told Kaiba, his voice meaningful.

That Otogi did notice, and he looked at the two of them in confusion, as if seeing them for the first time.

"Whoa," he said, randomly pointing his finger at the two of them. "What are you two doing? You'd better not be planning to fight or anything, or I'll throw you both out! You fuck up my party, and I'll fuck up your faces!" He paused. "Even more!"

Ah, Kaiba thought. The aggressive stage of intoxication. He was debating whether or not to tell Otogi just what the hell he could do with his stupid party, but Jou was already pacifying him.

"No one's fighting tonight," he said vehemently.

"King Otogi," the dice-earringed boy amended.

"My ass," Jou rolled his eyes again.

Otogi moved in very close to Jou again, purring in his ear. Kaiba could barely hear him, but he made out the words, staring at Otogi's lips as they pressed against Jou's ear. "That's an excellent idea. Come on, help me make the rounds."

Jou looked over Otogi's shoulder at Kaiba, with positively smouldering eyes. Kaiba saw Otogi's hand slip into Jou's open shirt, and he idly wondered if Otogi knew that Jou was in love with him. He wasn't angry whatsoever. He certainly didn't want to pull them violently apart either. Not at all. He raised his eyebrows and stared back at Jou, waiting for his next move.

He watched Jou part his lips and flick his tongue at them slightly. He watched Jou lick his canine, a move that he'd become familiar with, and that stirred his pulse. Otogi's hand was still moving around on Jou's chest. He bent in close to Otogi's ear, never taking his eyes off of Kaiba.

"Yeah. Let's make the rounds."

"There's a good princess," Otogi said, almost too soft for Kaiba to hear. His other hand snaked around Jou's body, cupping his ass and pulling them together briefly. Kaiba still met Jou's passionate gaze, but he had a slight frown on his face. What the hell was Jou doing? He didn't understand the blond at all. Why was he still looking at him like that, when he was very clearly going off to have a drunken and deeply disturbing personal encounter with dice-boy?

Otogi separated himself from Jou and turned to Kaiba. Ever the gracious host, he informed the millionaire that he had hosting duties he just could not escape. "You know, places to see, things to go, people to do." He stared lasciviously at Jou as he said the last part. Kaiba was sure he was nauseous. His stomach turned at the thought of Jou going off with that pretentious asshole. He knew he shouldn't have come.

"Do what you want," he snarled nastily as he made to brush past Jou toward freedom, but a hand clamped on his arm as he passed. Fingers squeezed the bruises under his sleeve, and he turned to look Jou in the eye.

"Don't leave," he said, almost urgently. His eyes bored into Kaiba's, pleading and sultry and so intense that Kaiba's insides fluttered in a completely different – and not altogether unpleasant - way. Jou's hands lightened their grip and his fingertips ghosted their way down Kaiba's arm to caress his fingers gently.

Kaiba should have pulled his hand away; his brain screamed it. But he didn't, and Jou continued. "Give it a chance. You might still find that epiphany." He pulled his hand away, and Otogi echoed him.

"Yeah," he said, sloshing his champagne (which had mysteriously appeared in his hand from out of nowhere) all over. "Don't go yet. Night's still young, you're still sober – you can't leave yet! Anyways, see you." He made a funny motion with his hand, as if he were doffing his royal hat to Kaiba, then grabbed a hold of Jou's hand and pulled him through the crowd. Jou trailed Otogi, still staring at Kaiba, with veritable come-hither eyes. Almost commanding him to follow.

Then it hit him, like a speeding sports car in the midnight hours. Jou wanted him to follow. He wanted Kaiba to watch. It almost looked like he had some kind of freaky fetish, but Kaiba had already figured him out. Jou wanted to make him jealous, so that he'd declare his undying love in a fit of rage and passion. He remembered Jou saying to him that he'd regret telling him to find someone else, that Kaiba couldn't stand to see him with anyone else.

Of course he could stand it. He was standing it just fine. He watched as the crowd swallowed them up, and he decided to leave, as quickly as possible. He shoved his way through the thronging mass, eager to get in his car and race the streets to his own house. But, just as he entered the foyer, he was greeted with a sickening sight.

Otogi had Jou's body pressed up against the staircase, and he drained his champagne glass. He pulled Jou's head toward his, catching his lips in a fervent, bubbly, wet, alcoholic kiss. Jou focused his eyes on Kaiba yet again as Otogi pulled away, as if he knew he couldn't be far behind. And then Jou leaned in close, slowly, and licked the champagne from Otogi's lips, his tongue darting in and out of his mouth. Then they were off again, weaving their way up the stairs.

Kaiba stared after them, instantly deciding to follow.

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