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"Oh no, don't say we're stuck here!"
"We're stuck."
"Isn't there some sort of system override thing you can do?"
"Of course."
"Well do it then!"
"I can't."
"Why not!"
"Because I have to input my security pass codes into the outside keypad, and I am currently locked inside!"
Jou jumped when Seto shouted the last part, and Seto's angry voice echoed in the vault where his deadpan tone had hung stagnant before.
"Okay, fine. Then someone else will come and let us out," Jou said, trying to be the reasonable one.
"You know I'm the only one with the pass codes, Jou."
Jou almost winced. That tone of voice was not good, it was not good at all. He started grasping at anything that sounded like it could get them out of there.
"Well, we can call someone-"
"Cell phones and most any other form of electronic communication don't work down here."
"Okaaaaay…well, they'll get Mokuba to-"
"We changed all the codes when Mokuba went to college. They are no longer joint. It needs my retina scan."
Jou was getting desperate now. And Seto's flat voice and face worried him. Jou knew he was livid, but he was just leaning against the metal door there, expressionlessly staring at the floor. He really hoped Seto didn't go psycho on him - this was a particularly bad time to be locked up with him with nowhere else to go.
"Alright, well they'll just cut through the doors. It might take a while, but-"
"What part of 'impenetrable' don't you understand? They'll never make it through."
"Well – well what the fuck are we supposed to do, then!" Jou's voice rose shrilly, and he didn't understand why Seto was being so calm about this.
"We wait it out," was the dry reply.
"Wait it out? Wait it out! Are you telling me this thing'll open by itself?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you."
"Then why the hell did you let me freak out like that! Jeez! All we gotta do is wait it out!" Jou could literally feel the relief flooding through him, relaxing his tense body.
"How long till it opens?" he asked, prepared to wait as long as it took. It couldn't be more than an hour, right?
Seto finally looked at him, and Jou's heart immediately sank again. That look was a mixture of irritation, resignation, and amusement. That look said that Seto would be laughing at Jou if he hadn't gotten stuck in this predicament too.
"Twelve hours."
Jou's reaction was both immediate and delayed. His eye twitched, and he felt dizzy, but it took a few moments before he could say anything.
"Are you fucking serious! Twelve fucking hours!"
"Dead serious. Now, I suggest we each pick a side of the vault and stay there for the next twelve hours, or there's going to be a homicide."
Seto pushed off from the door and brushed past Jou, stalking to one corner of the vault. Jou stared after him, mouth agape. How the hell could they last twelve hours in here? His frustrations got the better of him, and he began to blubber.
"But – but – but it's my birthday! There is cake waiting for me! What the hell are we supposed to do in here for twelve fricking hours!"
"You should have thought about that before you pushed the button," Seto said from his corner.
He was already seated on the floor, leaning against a wall, one knee pulled up to his chest and the other leg curled around his foot. One arm was draped across his raised knee, while the other hung down at his side, fingers drumming soundlessly against the floor. He would have looked like he was ready for a day in the park if it wasn't for the drumming fingers. To the best of Jou's knowledge, Seto hardly ever fidgeted. That was obviously a sign that he was under some extreme mental stress.
"You always have to push the button," Seto said, half to himself. "Just can't leave well enough alone."
"Hey!" Jou said indignantly. "I said I wasn't gonna touch it and I really wasn't! You pushed my hand back on it! This is your fault, not mine!"
Seto gave a condescending little nod, as if to say "Sure it was," and Jou bristled.
"Besides," Jou continued, "if that Auto-Lock thing is so stupid, why the hell didn't you get rid of it?"
"Because I never got around to it! There were always more important things to focus on." He glared at Jou. "That, and I never thought I'd be locked in my own vault. But here I am, Seto Kaiba, entrepreneur and multi-billionaire, locked in my own – fucking - vault."
Seto stared at a spot on the opposite wall with extraordinary concentration, and Jou rolled his eyes. If Seto was going to be melodramatic, he might as well just go and sit in his own corner. Jou turned around, and went to go sit as far away from Seto as he could get. It was clear that Seto most certainly did not want to speak to him at all. He slumped against the wall in the corner diagonally opposite Seto's, cross-legged, wondering how long it would take for the silence to drive him crazy.
2:10pm
"Dum dum, dum da deeeeeeee."
He tried to hold out the note for as long as possible, but that was it. That was the last song Jou knew. He had resigned himself to the fact that he was stuck there for longer than he could grasp, and that he would eventually lose it. Until that time, however, he could at least try to keep his mind off of their current state of affairs, using any means necessary. He had hummed everything he could remember, from nursery rhymes, to pop, to the golden oldies of yesteryear. He had even hummed the Macarena. Now, he was completely empty.
He looked over at Seto, who looked like a statue, except for the odd jumping finger. He was still in the same position, and he was still staring at the same spot on the wall. He showed no signs that he was alive, far less that he even knew Jou was in the room. Jou sighed. He just looked so frozen. If only Jou could melt his heart…give himself to me-
Hah! Madonna! Jou knew he knew more songs! Feeling happy and oddly accomplished, he had barely started humming when Seto spoke for the first time in an hour.
"If you hum another song, I will kill you."
Jou shut up instantly. Seto might actually try something. Jou glanced at Seto again, who looked like he was thinking very hard about something. He still wasn't looking at Jou, but he wasn't just staring at the wall either. 'Well, at least he isn't catatonic anymore,' Jou thought optimistically.
His optimism, however, was misplaced. They were still locked in the vault, with a good ten hours to go. Short of ripping his hair out of his scalp and making mittens with it, there was nothing else for Jou to do. Well, nothing besides counting, but he wanted to save that for later. He snorted softly after thinking something funny - he could always try getting Seto to talk.
Seto heard sighing from Jou's corner of the vault, but he refused to acknowledge it. A blissfully quiet moment passed, and then Jou sighed again, louder this time, and Seto almost rolled his eyes. He knew what Jou was gearing up to, and he wondered what idiotic thing he'd say to breach the silence. Whatever it was, he would make it quite clear that he was in no mood for conversation. He returned his mental efforts to concocting the least embarrassing excuse possible to give to his employees and the inevitable news crews when they finally got out of the vault. He had spent the first hour fuming in silence, but honestly, this deserved his attention more. The truth was just too ridiculous.
Jou cleared his throat, realising that passive tactics were not working. He saw Seto's eye twitch, and decided to go for it. At least he was listening.
"I, um, I wonder what the gang is doing. I hope they're not worried," he said, sounding very concerned. Seto focused his aloof gaze on Jou's face and responded, but it was not the reassurance Jou was hoping for.
"I'm sure they're not worried at all. In fact, they're so accustomed to your stupidity landing you in compromising, uncomfortable and often dangerous situations that they're probably laughing about it. They're sitting back right now, eating cake without you. Birthday cake!"
Seto's eyes flashed, and Jou gasped. He was genuinely hurt.
"Jeez, Seto. You sure know how to wound a guy…"
Seto was just about to say something less harsh, but Jou beat him to it.
"I hope they save me some cake," he said, with a distant look in his eye.
Seto changed his mind about saying anything nice.
2:50pm
He was calm. His head was empty. He was calm. He-
"Hey! Are you sleeping?"
Seto felt the whole left side of his face twitch.
"Good! Cuz I'm not gonna let you sleep over there! If I'm awake, you're awake!" Jou continued.
Seto kept his eyes firmly closed and breathed out heavily through his nose, struggling to keep his composure. But Jou was damned near impossible to ignore. He was the dog that clung to the mailman's leg as he made his rounds, snarling and tugging. Even if you did manage to block out the pain, the sound of crunching bones would get to you. He was really frustrating that way.
"I mean it!" Jou shouted from his corner. "You better wake the hell up!"
Seto growled. So much for being calm. His concentration was broken. He opened his eyes and glared at Jou.
"I wasn't sleeping," he managed through gritted teeth.
"Then what were you doing?"
"I was-" Seto hesitated. Maybe he should have just stuck to staring at the wall; for one thing, he wouldn't have had to deal with this awkward explanation. It required more communication with Jou than he was willing to engage in. It wasn't a secret, but at the same time…
He cleared his throat before finishing in a lower voice. "I was meditating."
"What? What do you mean, you were meditating?" Jou screwed his face up in confusion. "You don't believe in that stuff. You don't even pray."
"I didn't say I was praying, I said I was meditating. There is a difference."
"Since when do you meditate!" Jou asked heatedly. This was clearly a secret Seto had been keeping from him.
"Well, since a certain person locked me in my own vault, I've been finding it particularly hard to control the urge to beat them to death with their own shoe. I also find, however, that meditation helps calm me down."
"Yeah, funny." Jou rolled his eyes. "That's not what I asked, though."
Seto sighed, unfolding and refolding his limbs to mirror Jou's cross legged position. He thought for a moment before he answered. "It's something I've been doing since I was a kid. I'd read about it, and I tried it, and it works for me. I don't do it often, though."
Jou raised his eyebrows, asking for further clarification. Seto sighed again before continuing.
"It's not spiritual or anything like that, it's just what I said. A way to clear my head and calm me down when things get-" Seto stopped, looking for the right word. "-hectic. It helps me focus. Keeps me sane, sometimes."
"How come you never told me?" Jou asked after a miniscule silence, looking genuinely interested in the answer.
"It never came up. Like I said, I hardly ever do it, and when I do, I'm alone. Usually." Seto eyed their confines in disgust. "This situation is just…" He trailed off, fairly sure that Jou understood their situation.
Seto expected Jou to say something else, but no response came. He eyed Jou, who was just looking at him with an odd expression on his face.
"What?" he asked tensely. He would have shifted uncomfortably too, but he had long ago learned to control those compulsions.
"Nothing. I just-" Jou shrugged. "I like that I still got still so much to learn about you." He gave a crooked smile and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. Seto did the same.
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