If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, the ratings will go WAY up. Like... Rated R. Eh, point is, I don't own it.


Jou's job started out as a temporary one, just until he got the one he really wanted. He had planned on leaving after two months to work in the US, but things have changed. He couldn't leave now. Not when he loves Seto and… he's almost sure that Seto loves him.


Until You Need Me

Bacon Bits and Gratitude Mixed in with Affection


Even before Jou's alarm went off, Jou was already awake. Despite this, his eyes remained closed. He could feel the sun's warmth and the rays on his face; he could almost visualize the outside view of his apartment and knew that it was time to get up.

His eyes fluttered open and he turned to the side, away from the sun and saw that Seto, only a few centimeters away from him. To Jou's surprise, his eyes were already awake. Jou had been hoping to get up early and make breakfast before the other had awakened, but obviously, he was not up long enough. Jou noticed Seto's small yet slightly amused smile first and wondered how long Seto had been up watching him.

"Have a good night sleep?" Seto asked softly while he sat up on the bed, his hair all messy and tousled in a way Jou did not ever expect to see. It was a nice revelation though; seeing Seto in a different way that no one did (except Mokuba probably) made him feel privileged and special, as if he had past some sort of test to be able to see Seto this way, in his not so perfect yet still amazing state.

Jou nodded. "Why don't you go ahead and wash your face first," he suggested, sitting up as well, leaning against his wall. "There are some unused toothbrushes in the cabinet to your right. I better go start up breakfast I suppose."

As Seto headed off towards the bathroom, Jou yawned loudly as he made his way to the kitchen, opening his refrigerator, automatically reaching for the orange juice he normally drank in the morning, but then paused. He remembered Seto's request every morning for black coffee.

Oh yeah, he likes coffee in the morning. How could I forget? Jou shut the door and proceeded to make some coffee. It was a good thing he remembered to buy some more coffee mix last week, even though he didn't really like to drink it himself.

"Oh hey Kaiba," Jou greeted when he heard Seto's footsteps moving towards him. "Just sit down for a second, all right? All I need is to get some cups for us and then I can start cooking, unless you want to eat out. I don't mind really."

"No, I'm fine." Seto walked behind him Jou. "It's taking you quite some time to make some coffee. Something distracting you? Normally, you could get me a cup in no time."

Could Seto tell that Jou was feeling conflicted at the moment? That Jou wasn't sure whether or not he liked Seto the way he back in high school? Whether he liked Seto that way or not? Wait, what was he talking about? He didn't like Seto, no of course not. He just got a little bit confused, that's all.

He thought so at least.

Jou laughed meekly. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a bit sleepy. I'm not used to having someone sleep next to me you know."

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Really? I myself would have thought that you would have had countless girlfriends, coming over to spend the night with you."

You think that I have countless girlfriends? Isn't it ironic that you think that I have girlfriends sleeping with me when I think that you have all sorts of girls wanting to spend the night with you

"No!" Jou said loudly, a bit too loudly for his liking. "I mean, no," he corrected himself quickly. "I'm not-I'm not like that. I don't believe in having people over for the night like... that. I'm not that kind of person really. And you don't have to believe me but that's who I am and...yeah." Way to go Jou. Babble and talk on like an idiot. That will impress him, definitely.

To Jou's amazement, Seto laughed. "I've never seen you get so rattled, pup." Jou felt that familiar thump when he heard Seto say the word 'pup' in such a jokingly and relaxed way. "Don't worry, I wouldn't think any less of you did."

"Really, I don't—"

"I can get the cups for you, save us the time," Seto interrupted.

"Thanks, that's probably a good idea." To change the subject, he added to himself silently. "You know where they are right?"

"I know. I got a cup of water last night," Seto responded smoothly. He leaned closer to Jou, whose body almost came in contact with Seto's and Jou had to fight to keep his breathing normal. Seto's arm snaked in front of Jou's, trying to reach for the cup. He pulled his arm back, his hand holding two mugs. His face settled next to Jou's and he said in a husky tone, "You need this right?"

"Rr-right," Jou stuttered, feeling very, very relieved when Seto moved back away from him. At the same time however, he still felt very strange and somewhat naked, having Seto in his apartment, in his kitchen. He would have preferred it if Seto went to sit down away from him so that he could breathe normally like used to again.

He started to pour coffee into the cups, just so that he could do something to distract him from Seto's presence. He handed a mug to Seto without turning around, afraid and terrified that his expression told Seto all his thoughts he had running in his head, both that morning and last night.

I'm not being too obvious am I? I hope I'm not. No, I'm not because if I am he would tell me right? Wouldn't he be out of here by now? Or is he just being nice? Wait, would he even... oh he can't know...no of course he's not! Oh, Jou, shut up!

"So," Jou said brightly, catching Seto's attention and taking Seto's arm. He started to lead him away from his small kitchen to the couch. "You," he beckoned for him to sit down. "Stay here. I can't cook while someone's watching me and you don't want another incident like Mokuba and his cooking do you?"

"You can't cook when—"

"Yup! Besides, I better go brush my teeth off first so sit here and sip your coffee for a while, okay? I promise that I can cook really, really fast and that it would be decent. Just sit tight."

Before Jou could embarrass himself any further, he burst into his bathroom and closed the door behind him, trying to calm himself down. What was he doing? Why did he talk so much? Why did Seto have to make him feel so darn nervous and why did he have to make Jou ramble on?

And why, oh why, does Seto Kaiba have this effect on me? Why do I feel as if I need to impress him? Why can't I just speak normally and seem SANE for once in my life like I am with Yugi?

"It's because he's my boss," Jou said out loud to himself, deciding at once. "Yeah, that's it. He's my employer and I have to get him to like me well enough to keep me. Because if I don't, I'm kind of screwed so that's the reason why. Yeah, of course, why am I freaking out? I don't like Seto Kaiba that way."

His words were a comfort and relief to Jou—for a second. Even while Jou was brushing his teeth, Jou couldn't help but wonder if he should change into something better. He criticized himself for choosing such a poor choice of clothing last night. He had to look presentable to the boss after all, even if it was at his own place.

"All right, are you ready for my famous eggs or what?" Jou asked in a light tone as he came back to join Seto. He opened his mouth to say more but then paused when he noticed that Seto wasn't sitting down anymore and that his coffee cup was lying there, untouched.

He heard Seto curse to himself (something Jou never thought was possible!) and walked further towards the kitchen area and saw that Seto was behind the stove, making some pancakes. To the left of Seto were two plates that had eggs and bacon, already cooked and ready to go. Jou's mouth fell open in shock. "You shouldn't have to cook; that is my job as a host! You should be sitting down and letting me take care of it!"

Seto placed the pancake on one of the plates and proceeded to the next one. "Just because it is your apartment doesn't mean that I'm not entitled to do my part. You helped me out last night and I owe you. It's the least I can do."

"Kaiba, that's really nice, but I feel bad..."

"Don't." Seto turned off the stove and wiped his hand on the apron he was wearing. He took a plate and glided towards Jou's direction. He gave Jou the smile that he would give to Mokuba and Jou felt the butterflies in his stomach more than ever. Seto used one of his long and delicate fingers to pick up a small piece of bacon. "Try some," Seto urged him gently, moving the small bacon towards Jou's lips.

Jou opened his mouth and stared straight into Seto's blue eyes as Seto placed the bacon in his mouth. He bit down on it. The bacon was good, really good. Jou had a feeling that if he had cooked, his breakfast would not have turned out half as good as Seto's had.

"I didn't know you could cook," Jou told him, still gazing into Seto's eyes.

"There is lot of things about me that you do not know," Seto replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "So, how was it? Do you like it?"

Jou nodded. "I think it's great, fantastic. It's really good."

Seto used his free hand and brushed some of Jou's blonde strands away from his eyes for the second time. Though Jou had experienced this before, he couldn't stop himself from feeling shy and hearing that little voice in his head going, He's more than just a boss to you... you can't hide that feeling that somewhere deep inside of you, you want there to be something else between you two... more than just a professional relationship...

"I think it's good too," Seto finally said after their minute of silence. "And I'm not talking about the bacon either, Jou."

"What else is good then?" Jou asked, not catching on to the meaning of the CEO's words. And no, he had not missed the fact that Seto had called him Jou instead of pup for the first time...

"Come on, let's eat," Seto said.


"So what happened next?"

Jou sat down and took a sip from his water bottle. "Nothing."

Yugi took a seat next to him, wiping his sweat from his forehead. "What do you mean nothing? You can't exactly tell me that you and Seto Kaiba, your arch enemy had breakfast together in your apartment after spending the night at your place and then say that nothing happened. Don't mind me for not believing you."

Jou swallowed his water, pausing to watch some people pass them by. Yugi was waiting for an answer he knew and he didn't know how to explain it without sounding too complicated. Truth was that he wasn't exactly sure how to explain it either.

After breakfast, Seto had suggested that they get to know each other more, spending some time outside of the office. "It's natural to get to know your employees don't you agree?" he had asked Jou right before Mokuba came to pick him up. "We should schedule to meet sometime, for Mokuba's sake. He would love to catch up with you as well. Yesterday didn't really count, considering he had left early."

Jou had to wonder whether Seto was really talking about Mokuba. Did he really ask Jou to hang out because Mokuba needed to catch up with him? On one hand, Jou was sure that Seto wouldn't ask him for the hell of out it because he most likely wasn't interested but on the other hand... how he hoped...

Yugi, deciding to let Jou off the hook, started to talk again. "All right, I get it, you don't want to tell me, that is fine with me. But I have to admit that I'm surprised you're not more talkative about this."

"What do you mean?" Jou's attention was diverted back to Yugi's again.

"If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that you liked it."

"Liked what? Exactly what are you talking about?"

"It," Yugi answered simply. "You know, hanging out with Kaiba like that. You would have wanted it back in high school definitely. I can't believe that you had to wait several years before you finally make a move."

"Okay, now I really don't know what you're talking about."

"Please Jou. I'm one of your best friends, I know when you have a soft spot for someone and Seto Kaiba is one of them. Even back in high school, I could tell. You were always protesting and denying it though but since I'm me, I can see these sorts of things."

"What has Yami been doing to you, Yuge? I thought you used to be the clueless and naive one in the gang!"

"Ha," Yugi laughed humorlessly. "Very funny. But I'm right aren't I? You're not even denying it right now which proves how good I am at this."

"Yugi, I do not like Seto Kaiba, despite what you think. He is my employer and we work together, that is all. We cannot have a relationship that is beyond professional. Besides, he wouldn't like and that's fine because I don't have any feelings for him at all either!" Jou said this for Yugi's benefit, but mostly, for his. Though he knew that Yugi's words had some truth to them, he was still trying to reason with himself that what he felt was purely professional and all for business. It was good to care about your fellow manager after all. That just proved what kind of person Jou was.

"All right," Yugi said. "But hey, it's not every day that you find someone who can cook pancakes that well because face it Jou, even though you buy that mix, you always manage to mess it up somehow."

Jou smacked him on the head.


-TBC-

That's more than two weeks wasn't it? Ugh, I'm sorry, I've been pushing it. But the goods news is that I'm only ONE week late! Better one week late than several months right? (I give up giving myself deadlines for chapters... don't want to let people down too much)

I had major writer's block on this chapter which may explain Yugi's entrance to the story. I think that I was trying to emphasize Jou's crush on Seto even way back in high school and the fact that he was the person to deny these kinds of things (like fate with Seto!). Hoped it wasn't TOO useless or pointless though...

How was this chapter anyway?

Review and I will forever appreciate you. XD

-lilrubydevil-