Picture Perfect

Oh. My. Lawd. Just... Wow. The response to the previous chapter was unprecedented, by far. My last couple of fics have been sort of odd and neglected, so to get TWENTY NINE REVIEWS for the first chapter of this totally blew my mind. I'm overwhelmed. Thank you all so much. Enjoy the new chapter.

Chapter Two.

The dream had been not at all interesting, which is what made it a problem. It wasn't a nightmare. It wasn't erotic. It was just himself, standing in front of a screen, and actually doing what Jounouchi told him to.

"No, you need to lean forward slightly. Part your mouth a little. No, I said a little! Great, now look at me as if you actually give a damn."

"Give a damn about what, pray tell?"

"Anything. Just pretend you have feelings, Kaiba - I know it won't be easy but I'm sure you can do it."

You can see why this dream would trouble Seto Kaiba. There he is, minding his own business sleeping (and for Seto Kaiba, you'd better believe that sleep is business), when BAM. Katsuya Jounouchi. That this person would make an impact on his subconscious in any way, shape or form was deeply disturbing to Kaiba. If the dream had been a shade more horrifying or a shade more... Well, let's say 'NOT-horrifying' Kaiba could have written it off as the ridiculous imaginings of an overworked mind.

But a perfectly uninteresting, plausible dream like this seemed to be his brain's way of reminding him that Jounouchi was, well... There.

Faced with Jounouchi standing THERE at his door three days later, Kaiba was decidedly uncomfortable. Contrary to popular belief (and those internet rumours that he was really a vampire), Kaiba DID have feelings. And he was not happy about them.

"What happened to the mansion?" Jounouchi said, grinning.

Kaiba visibly suppressed a sigh. "I actually prefer to stay in this apartment most of the time." His voice was flat.

"Does Mokuba stay here?"

"Sometimes." Non-committal.

"You know actually we're having polite conversation, right?" Jounouchi ran a hand through his hair, still grinning. The silver bracelets were still there, still jingling.

"Let's not make a habit of it."

Kaiba turned and walked back into his expensive, seventeenth-floor penthouse, expecting Jounouchi to close the door behind him. He did. Kaiba led them both into the dining room.

"Nice place."

"Just show me the photographs."

"Oh, excuse me; whatever you say. I'll just spread them out on this table."

Jou slapped down a manila folder and began to sort through it, sliding glossy black and whites of Kaiba across the glass surface. He lingered over one or two for a moment, a funny expression crossing his face. When he was done not two minutes later, Kaiba gave them a cursory glance.

"They're fine," he said curtly.

"'They're fine'?"

"Yes."

Jounouchi shook his head in disbelief. "That's it? You dragged me all the way up town for 'They're fine'?"

"Yes."

He glanced between Kaiba and the photographs. "You're sure there's nothing else?"

Kaiba bit the inside of his cheek. Do not think about the dream. Do not think about the dream.

Jounouchi stepped up beside him again and began to gather up the many photographs. He leaned in front of Kaiba, close enough for the CEO to realise that Jounouchi smelled like vanilla. Kaiba bit down harder.

"That's it; now get out."

Jounouchi laughed. It had an ironic ring to it. "You really are a bastard, you know that? I would have thought in four years you might have changed a LITTLE."

"You don't seem to have - why should I?"

Jounouchi's honey-gold eyes glanced sideways at him. "No," he said eventually. "Some things aren't that easy to change, are they?"

The gaze Kaiba returned was that of a statue.

The front door slammed.

"Set-to!" There was a thud, and footsteps hurried across the apartment. "You'll never guess what happened in school this afternoon, the librarian - "

Mokuba Kaiba stopped in the doorway to the dining room. "Jou!" he shouted. "Where the hell did you come from?"

Jounouchi smiled a genuine smile. "Hey short stuff - whoa, you're not so short any more, hey?"

Mokuba gave a mock glare, a paler version of his older brother's most frequent (not to mention current) expression. "Well, I haven't seen you in, like, five years! People can get a lot taller in that time. What are you doing here?"

Mokuba glanced between his older brother and their visitor.

"Ah, well, I took some photos of your bro for Economic Enquirer and my boss overheard Kaiba remark he wanted to approve them... And he started insisting I bring them over personally..."

Kaiba's scowl deepened. "He was just leaving."

"What? No way! You have to at least stay for dinner, Jou. How long have you been in town? Are you staying?" Mokuba started to back out of the room as he flung out questions to quick to be answered. "Have you seen Yugi and the others? I'll go phone and order in some food!" He disappeared from sight.

"...Well, I guess that's one way to stop a person from protesting."

"Funny, no matter what I did you always just tagged along after me, babbling your pathetic insults." Kaiba said dryly.

Jounouchi tapped the last of his photographs into the folder. "Oh, well." He flashed Kaiba another grin, the serious mood now gone. "You have a nice ass to tag along after. I was just following the scenery! Say, how big is this apartment? Where's the restroom? No, don't worry, I can find it myself!"

Mokuba's method WAS effective. Kaiba stood alone in the dining room and raised a hand to his forehead. He could feel a headache coming on.

"Hey." Jounouchi rolled his head along where it was resting on the back of the couch, turning it toward the person sitting not next to him. "Hey. Hey!"

"Jesus, what?" Kaiba snapped.

"Where the hell'd Mokuba go?"

"He left twenty minutes ago, you idiot. 's a school night."

"Oh."

"You need a seeing eye dog."

"Dogs can't lead dogs. That's like the blind leading the blind."

Kaiba grunted in response.

"Fine, pass me some more of that wine."

"No, you've had your catch-up session with my brother. Allow me to say once 'gain: get the hell out of my penthouse."

Jounouchi sighed, exasperated. The evening had been going fairly well. He'd been chatting with Mokuba, Kaiba had been sitting in stoic silence - much like an attractively-carved chunk of stone. Then Mokie had dragged them both in to the living room to watch a movie on the largest tv screen Jou had ever seen in a studio apartment. Kaiba had tried to steal away but Mokuba had grabbed a hold of him and hissed something in his ear. Jounouchi pretended not to notice.

"I can't go anywhere, you asshole. Thanks to your brother, I can't drive home."

"What?"

"I'M DRUNK." Jounouchi said loudly and clearly.

"SHUT UP," Kaiba responded. "YOU'LL WAKE MY BROTHER, MUTT!"

"Anyway, looks like I'm crashing here for the night."

Kaiba muttered something that sounded vaguely obscene, and very threatening. Jou wasn't sure what it was, but nonetheless responded with, "In your dreams!"

Kaiba fell silent. Not really unusual, unless you were alert enough to notice the faintest hint of colour flare across his cheeks. And Jounouchi was not alert enough.

"I can't believe your brother plied us with booze. He got us debibblerately drunk!"

Still no response.

"Anyway, gimme the bottle." Jou sat up and reached for it. Kaiba slapped his hand back.

"Geez, the damage is done now, what's a little more gonna hurt?" Jounouchi leaned forward, attempting to wrestle the expensive vintage off the tall brunette.

Kaiba slapped his hand away again and leaned further back. Jou's bracelets chimed once more. After a few moments grappling, Kaiba seized his assailant's hand.

Jounouchi blinked.

"Take those god damn things off!"

Jounouchi recoiled, attempting to get his hand back. "No!"

"They're the most annoying thing I've ever heard - other than your obnoxious voice!"

Jounouchi whacked Kaiba in the side of the head, and quickly found himself pulled in closer, his other arm now restrained. This meant, of course, the wine bottle was sitting in his own lap. Jounouchi stared down at it. So close... And yet...

"Why the hell are you wearing woman's jewellery, anyway?"

"Why, does it offend your masculinity?" Jounouchi barked in response. "I see you're wearing a ring."

Kaiba looked down at his left hand, which was holding Jounouchi's right wrist and locking the two of them close together. Abruptly, he let the mutt go.

"If you're going to wear a silver ring, I think I can - "

"SHUT UP!" Kaiba shouted. "I don't care. I don't know why I asked - I sure as hell don't care. I blame the alcohol. Mokuba is grounded."

"Yeah, good thing you sent him to his room, huh?"

Kaiba nodded, aware even in his slightly tingly, alcohol-induced state that the statement was wrong - but glad to change the topic.

"How'd you still end up with the wine bottle?"

Kaiba's blue eyes stared into his for a moment and then slowly and defiantly took a swig out the bottle, himself. "I'm better than you."

"At what?"

"Everything." Kaiba took a swig from the bottle, defiantly.

"You wish," Jounouchi lunged for the bottle again, and Kaiba leaned backwards away from him. Unfortunately for Kaiba, he leaned a little too far back.

He suddenly found himself lying underneath Jounouchi. Kaiba's neck was bent uncomfortably against the neck of the sofa, but Jounouchi's weight on top of him was much more of an, er... Pressing matter. As were the honey-gold eyes only inches from his face.

Jou had intended to mutter something - a simple, "Uh, Kaiba?" But the two were so close that when he uttered the 'ba', his lips softly brushed against the CEO's. The wine bottle slipped out of Kaiba's hand, hitting the floor with a mild thud. And neither of the two paid any attention as, with a soft glugging sound, its contents spilled out onto Kaiba's cream carpet.

And THAT was how Seto Kaiba awoke the next morning with the headache he had predicted so many hours before, as well as a crick in his neck.

He also awoke with Katsuya Jounouchi.

Updated ninth March 2005.