Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A/N: I will change the title, once I think of something better. Suggestions welcome. Oh, and sorry this is kinda short, but it if I made it any longer it would be even more pointless.
Warning: Hinting at general smuttiness and horniness.
Blue Eyes, Cold Heart
Chapter Four
The phone shrilled insistently, piercing the tangible silence that enveloped the house. Lazy sunshine peeked through curtained windows, making each room warm and sleepy.
It rang once, twice. Three times- a loud thump followed by a low moan, then shuffling footsteps made their way towards the living-room. He rubbed his eyes open, blinking in the sunlight, forcing his brain to wake up, struggling to understand the nature of the noise.
Eight times, nine times. He saw the phone, buried under a pile of paper. He started to dig, his mind still foggy, not having fully awoken, not having remembered. He put the receiver to his ear and rattled out the usual message.
'Jounouchi, nine-five-six-six-twelve-zero-one?'
'Jou?' said a familiar voice. 'It's Mokuba.'
Jou's brow furrowed, and then relaxed, his eyes closing. He experienced a sinking sensation, and for a moment, he wished that the ground would collapse around him and swallow him up. Instead, he forced himself to summon his cheeriest voice.
'Oh hey,' he said. He grinned even while speaking, fearing that the boy on the other end of the line might sense his unease.
'My brother said you've left your duel-disk, he wants you to pick it up.' Mokuba piped up, his chattering voice crackling down the old phone. Jou groaned loudly, eyes lifting towards the cob-web riddled ceiling. Now, there was something he didn't want to do, or even think about. He cringed, trying to banish his thoughts from his own head and hoping Mokuba wouldn't start prattling on.
'Can he bring it over himself? Leave it outside the door or something?' Jou tried, hoping it didn't sound too harsh.
'No,' replied Mokuba very matter-of-factly. 'He can't, he's ill.' Mokuba sniffed down the phone, and Jou imagined his little chest inflating with pride. The dark-haired boy still retained an innocent kind of awe when it came to his brother, and his voice was often tinged with happiness when the older Kaiba was the subject of the conversation.
'Oh. Ooh, ill? What, I mean...how?' Jou couldn't help but smile at the idea of the sneering brunette being rendered into a shivering bed-ridden blob. He snickered inwardly, careful not to let the younger Kaiba hear him.
'I dunno. Brother says it's just exhaustion, but I think he went for a late night walk in the rain after you left. So I think he's got a cold.'
Jou raised an eyebrow, and let a wandering finger become entangled in the phone cord. He considered the statement, finding the aforementioned action very unlike Kaiba, 'He what?' He tested, his steady voice slightly incredulous.
'I don't know why. But big brother is like that.' Another beam of pride worked it's way down the phone. Jou felt slightly sick.
'Right,' Jou interrupted, cutting the exchange short before the boy could add any more information. 'Tell him I'll be round after lunch, or something.' He gritted his teeth, immediately wanting to take back his offer. He disliked the idea almost as much as having to be dragged into a one sided conversation with the hyper-active, slightly demented younger brother of the psychotic KaibaCorp president.
'Sure,' chuffed Mokuba. 'I have to go to school now so-'
'Yeah okay, whatever. Bye.' Jou slammed the receiver down quickly, exhaling loudly and wiping his forehead. He slumped himself down onto the nearby sofa, pulling one of the cushions into submission under his bare feet. A firm sense of dread niggled at him, and started to gnaw. He didn't want to the afternoon to come, yet oddly he was looking forward to it. He wanted this drowsy morning to waste away as fast as possible.
He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. There was another matter to be resolved- what would he say to Kaiba? What would Kaiba say to him? Maybe he wouldn't have to see him if he was ill. Maybe he could get away with sneaking in and grabbing the duel-disk and running back, and he would never have to see the pale-faced source of his madness.
But I want to.
He closed his eyes and leaned back. He smiled, and for a moment he was lost in the memories of the previous night. He was aware of something welling up in his chest, and he felt slightly nauseated as every nerve tingled with a sick kind of anticipation. To see Kaiba after last night would be incredibly stupid. He would just probably just treat him with the usual, arrogant disdain and Jou didn't think he could cope with that. Not after what he had seen, not now this strange emotion cursed through his brain, rendering him incapable of rational thought.
Not that Jou was a great fan of rational thought anyway, nor was it his best virtue, but this was a time when he really needed it. He bristled silently with anger at his dysfunctional mind, but not for long.
He imagined those ardent, all-consuming blue eyes before him, alive like fire. It pained him to think that Kaiba was holding back something so ... startling and so unlike the cold-hearted boy he thought he had known. He could not forget what he had seen and the incredible feeling it had made him experience was still a fresh wound in his psyche. He couldn't understand why or what Seto was hiding, why he let him become entangled into something so amazing only to throw it back in his face.
Kaiba obviously felt something for Jou, or he wouldn't have wasted his time with the mind games and the pretence of wanting to duel. But something stopped him from wanting to show it, and Kaiba wasn't one for stopping himself in the middle of something good. Jou's brow wrinkled as he stared into space.
Maybe the cold hearted Kaiba was scared? The once so fearsome duellist had only made it this far by being a stony-faced, detestable bastard. Maybe he was scared of losing his only defence.
Jou sighed.
Why can't you understand that I don't want to hurt you? He thought, screwing his eyes shut and breathing deeply.
Why can't you understand that I need you? That you need me? That we need to be closer?
He growled quietly at himself, frustrated at his feelings.
Why can't you just understand that I want to love you?
EH?
Jou's eyes widened at his own thought. Love? Now, that was new.
Yet it felt...so... right. Now, even the pain made sense. Nothing had ever felt like it before.
He closed his eyes again. His mind wandered further into confusion, and he drifted into a restless stupor.
Jou spent the rest of the morning dozing, wandering down to the local market for food and realising with little shock that sleeping in his clothes had made him smell rather stale. He washed and found something clean to wear, and caught sight of his wild mop of hair and scraggy clothing in his reflection. He wondered if he should find something nicer to wear, then felt himself turn a light shade of magenta as he realised how dumb he sounded.
All the same, he changed into a pale grey button-up shirt, and found some not-quite so old jeans. He even winked at himself in the mirror and clicked his tongue in approval. He tried, and failed to do something about his hair. Every so often his bustle would be interrupted by strange images, thoughts and ideas. They would only push through to annoy him and make him feel strange, but Jou found that he could let them wash over him if he concentrated.
Again, concentration wasn't one of Jounouchi's strong points.
He realised this when found himself staring out of the dusty kitchen window. His mind started to piece an image together. For some reason he didn't even try block it this time– he had become curious and was interested in the subject matter of his wandering thoughts. He was aware of a hazy light within the illustration of his mind; he saw a tall figure bearing an inviting smirk, eyes hungry with lust and milky pale skin that glowed like a full moon. It was so strange, yet so beautiful.
He tried to speak, but his voice made no sound in the white void of his desire. A deep, languid voice answered him. He didn't understand what it said, but he bathed in the liquid glory that was its sound. So long ago, that voice had only spoken insults and threats- had Jou known what the owner of this wonderful noise possessed within him, he would have thrown himself at its feet a long time ago. He would have relished every sigh, mourned every angry word and rejoiced at each tumble of rare laughter.
He imagined long fingers entangling with his own, bodies barely touching each other, yet close enough that the friction made Jou's breath catch in his throat. His waking dream developed further, inviting him into a sensation not unlike the dream that had started all this off. He sensed the heat of another body, so warm and comfortable, so good it made his head spin and his spine tingle with expectation.
His eyelids lowered, and an absurd smile spread across his face. His mind had just made the tall presence touch him, kiss him and push him down. His own imagination added the feel of silk-sheets and the musky scent of lightly glowing flesh. He imagined and felt delicate hands flit across him.
These hands explored his face, then his neck and his shoulders. He shivered under the imaginary touch. Muscles in his body contracted in pleasure, his own hands searching for a warm place to touch and explore. Cool digits trailed down his chest, playing with goose-bump flesh and enticing low moans from a dry throat.
Without realising, his own hands had started to work their way down his body. Across his stomach they fluttered with butterfly delicacy, working lower and lower, unaware that his breathing had become shallow and fast.
They found the top of his jeans, and they started to finger at the button and brush against the warm skin inside. They reached lower and became more insistent, until they brushed past a curl of coarse hair. Jou groaned under his breath, and reached out to hold himself up.
He touched the cold metal side of the sink.
The abrupt shock was enough to shake him out of his trance. The images disappeared like a puff of smoke in the wind, and Jou was left blinking in the light, his hand halfway down his pants. He took one look at his hand grasping the sink and at the half-concealed one.
He swore loudly.
Despite the fact that there was no one around, he felt highly embarrassed. His face reddening, he turned on the cold tap and doused his face with the freezing water. He felt a little angry at himself, but more so, he felt sheepish. He knew who he had just fantasized about, and the idea that this boy could play mind games without even being there made him feel weak at the knees. He grumbled, shaking droplets of water off in every direction.
Gods, that Kaiba...what has he done to me?
He would see him in a few hours. His heart missed a beat. He looked around exasperatedly, and decided that the bin really needed emptying again, and that the dishes should be washed. He eventually managed to get his mind back on track without further disturbance.
The clock's hands crawled closer and closer to two o' clock, and as Jou watched, he couldn't help but feel as if his intestines had tied a knot from the inside. He kept looking at the clock, eyes flitting to the face, sometimes as often as every thirty seconds. Each tick and each tock brought him closer to facing Kaiba again. He swallowed several lumps in his throat as he thought of him, visualising the delicate, angled features of the boy over and over.
At less than half an hour to go, he started to pace up and down his living room, and around his house. The knot in his belly grew tighter, making Jou wish he hadn't eaten quite so much. He started to mutter to himself, trying to think of things to say to Kaiba that would give him enough chance to get out without causing himself more damage.
Not much came to mind. Finally, it was nearly two o'clock. The blonde stared at clock in disbelief, not quite believing that it really was time to head off. He whimpered.
I'm like a lamb to the slaughter.
He grabbed a coat and opened the door. The air was fresh. The passing thunderstorm had cleared the air, made it bright and cool. Jou inhaled deeply, trying to steady his failing nerves. Everything smelled clean and good. The usual smog and other even less pleasant city odours had been replaced by an earthy scent, a pure kind of smell that reminded Jou of better days and mud-pies. He smiled, looked into sparkling sky and chased his apprehensions to the back of his mind.
After all, he was only going to pick up a duel disk, right? Nothing had to happen. Yet Jou's heartbeat picked up soon enough, and somehow he knew that this was going to be more than a passing visit.
A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed so far. I appreciate your comments and suggestions more than you could think. Extra thanks to Kiki Jones, who kindly offered to beta for me, and did so brilliantly! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter...and keep your eyes open for the next chapter, which I promise will be full of lovely smuttiness and KaiJou goodness.
Assuming I manage to write it without giggling and squealing too much, that is.