Title: Naked Truth 4/5

Author: Rroselavy

Rating: R

Pairing (s): Seto x Jounouchi

Beta: Akuchan

Spoilers: End of series

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Yu-gi-oh!

Summary: After being left behind by the rest of his friends as they go off to college all over the world, Jounouchi Katsuya finds that forging a friendship with Kaiba Seto isn't such an impossible task. But as their friendship deepens and both teens realize an attraction for each other, will they be pulled apart by someone who wants the blond teen all for himself?

It was as if nothing had happened. Jounouchi and Mokuba sat side-by-side on the futon, passing the time playing video games while waiting for Kaiba to come home. The CEO had been called to the office over some kind of security system failure. When he'd first arrived at the mansion, the blond had been nervous about seeing his young friend after the brothers' "discussion," but Mokuba had answered the door himself, and had been his usually perky self.

As the hours slipped by, it became more and more apparent that whatever the emergency was, it looked like Seto would be pulling an all-nighter. Mokuba drifted in and out of a restless doze as Jounouchi channel-surfed while he waited for Kaiba to call him with an update on when he might be wrapping up. Jounouchi hated the idea of leaving his young friend alone, at least before he'd made sure that Kaiba was okay with it. Usually there were servants in the household, but they'd all been given the week off between Christmas and the New Year. But when he'd called the brunet, he'd been curtly ordered off the phone.

"Stay put. I'll call you as soon as I can." Was all Kaiba had managed before hanging up.

"Mokuba, maybe you should head up to bed," Jounouchi said then, softly shaking the other teen awake.

"Mmm?" Mokuba blinked sleepily. "Seto's still not home?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"No. I'll stay here until he gets back, but you should go to sleep."

"I'll stay awake and keep you company."

"Nah, you'd need toothpicks to keep your eyes open, kiddo." Jounouchi chuckled lightly. "Just go to sleep."

After a bit more cajoling, Mokuba grumpily agreed, and trudged off to bed. "Are you gonna be here in the morning?" He asked, and the blond could hear the hint of strain in his voice.

"No, Seto just asked me to stay put 'til he got home." He said quickly, echoing the brunet's words.

"I'm not a baby any more, Jou. You can go home."

"I know that, Mokie. But you know your brother, I guess since he gave all the servants time off for the holidays, he'd rather you weren't alone." He shrugged his innocence in the matter. Jounouchi knew that Kaiba wasn't opposed to leaving Mokuba alone, but both older teens had looked forward to spending some time together even though they hadn't yet had an official date. That would be on New Year's Eve, only three days away. He wondered just what the brunet had up his sleeve for the evening, and grinned as he imagined it would be quite ... satisfying for them both. He sat down, splayed out on the couch, and resumed surfing until he too was fast asleep.

He was dreaming about Seto. They were in the brunet's room, on his bed. Kaiba had playfully pushed Jounouchi down on it, and had unbuttoned the blond's shirt. He suckled on a nipple, and then trailed kisses down Jounouchi's taut stomach. The blond felt his cock spring to life as Kaiba palmed his groin and then set to work on his fly.

"Hey, I thought you said we should take it slow?" He protested weakly.

"I need you now, Katsuya." Kaiba replied, lust darkening his eyes.

Jounouchi groaned as Kaiba's hands slid in his pants. He didn't want to wake up, he was enjoying this too much, but a sudden shift in his consciousness told him that what was happening wasn't just a dream. He sat bolt upright, and realized immediately that he wasn't in Kaiba's room, he was still in the family room, and there naked, on his knees between his legs, was Mokuba, hands working over Jounouchi's very erect penis.

"Fuck! Mokuba!" Jounouchi exclaimed, grabbing the teen's hands and wresting them away from his body. "What-"

"What the hell is going on here!" Kaiba's voice thundered from the doorway, and Jounouchi turned to see the utter shock on the older teen's face change to complete rage.

"It's not what-"

"It's not what it looks like?" The brunet stormed. "Mokuba, GO TO YOUR ROOM!" His eyes locked with his brother's fathomless grey, and Mokuba wordlessly got up from his prone position.

"He wants me Seto." The younger Kaiba said, completely at ease in his nakedness. Jounouchi cast the teen a sidelong glance, and noticed that Mokuba too was hard. The blond's head began to spin, and every fiber in his body told him that this was so wrong. He was NOT attracted to Mokuba, he'd been turned on by his dream of Seto, and he had to figure a way to let the older Kaiba know that. Immediately.

"I was asleep! You fucking molested me, Mokuba!" He exclaimed indignantly, as he grabbed a pillow to cover his crotch and hide the evidence of his flagging arousal.

Ignoring the blond, Kaiba continued to glare at his brother. "You set this up. You breached Kaiba Corp security, for THIS?" He cast an arm wide sweeping it toward Jounouchi. "Get out of my sight, NOW."

Jounouchi cringed and turned toward Mokuba. He saw the teen's resolve stumble for a moment before he set his jaw stubbornly. "You can't keep us apart, Seto."

The brunet barked a humorless laugh, and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh no? Watch me."

He turned to Jounouchi then, and schooled his features carefully. "You know that Mokuba is a minor?" The blond nodded. "If I catch you alone with him, I will press charges against you."

"But-" Jounouchi pleaded.

Kaiba continued impassively. "Do you understand?" Jounouchi gulped and nodded.

"Don't listen to him Jou! He's just jealous!"

Jounouchi turned to the raven-haired youth, glad to have the opportunity to say something. "Mokuba, what you did was wrong. I-I don't think about you like that." He saw that the teen was crestfallen, but he continued. He needed to get through to him once and for all. "I've always thought of you as a kid brother-"

"Why, Jou? Why him and not me!" Mokuba's eyes welled with tears, and Jounouchi empathized with the young teen's pain.

"I don't know, it just happened that way."

"He'll never treat you as good as me! You'll never be good enough for him," the younger teen snarled. "He can't possibly love you!"

Jounouchi sighed, and then said softly, "That may be the case, Mokie, but I love him."

"You. Can't!" The grey-eyed youth sobbed.

"But I do, and as much as I hate hurting you, you need to know that."

The younger teen looked stricken and stared first at Jounouchi and then Kaiba in horror. And then suddenly, wordlessly, he let out a keening wail and fled the room. Both older teens stared silently after the boy and then Kaiba set a couple of pillows back on the sofa and picked up the throw that had fallen to the floor.

"Don't ya think you should go talk ta him?" Jounouchi asked.

"I'll talk to him later, when I've calmed down." He picked up the remote and shut off the entertainment center before turning to the blond.

"I can't do this." He said.

"Can't do what?"

"Us."

"I tell him that I love you and you 'can't do this?' You're gonna let him do that to you? To us?"

"There is no 'us,' Katsuya."

"Shit, Seto. I love my sister, but if she made the moves on my boyfriend like that, I'd be all over her like white on rice. She would be grounded until she was thirty." The brunet looked away. "You're serious." Jounouchi said, comprehending the finality of Kaiba's statement.

"Katsuya, he'll be going off to school in a couple of years-"

"A couple of years? You want me to wait for you a for a couple of years? What kind of bullshit is that, Seto? Look, I know you love him, but he's acting like a spoiled brat who can't have his way. Don't do this to yourself. Don't do this to us."

"I have to. He'll never abide my relationship with you. He sabotaged Kaiba Corp's entire security system just to get rid of me for a few hours, so that he could ..."

"Seto, he's a KID. I know he's a genius and all, but he still has the feelings of a kid. He'll get over me. Look, we said we'd take it slow, let's just go with that. He'll come around, you'll see. I'll still hang with him so he knows that he ain't bein' abandoned." Jounouchi reasoned.

"You don't understand, Jounouchi."

"Don't understand what, Seto?"

"He's a Kaiba. He won't give up until he gets what he wants." The brunet said with resignation.

"Oh, I understand all right." Jounouchi growled. "You're letting him dictate your relationships. You're letting him run your life, RUIN your life." He spat.

"He's always BEEN my life." Kaiba turned to Jounouchi, and the blond could see that his eyes were glistening. Jounouchi felt his anger boiling in his blood; he couldn't believe that Kaiba would sacrifice his own happiness over his brother's impossible behavior.

"But that doesn't give him free rein to behave like he did! Seto, I was asleep! You're brother had his fucking hands down my pants while I was ASLEEP. Dreaming about you. That's not right! He needs to learn something about boundaries!"

"I think you should go now." Kaiba replied flatly, before Jounouchi could launch into a full-blown diatribe.

"So that's it?" The blond arched his eyebrows incredulous that Kaiba would dismiss him.

"How much clearer do you need for me to be?"

"Fuck this shit, Kaiba. See ya around!" Jounouchi felt tears sting his eyes. He shook his head. There was no fucking way he was going to cry over this stupidity. He grabbed his coat and went to push past the brunet, only to be caught in a vice-like grip.

"Katsuya," Kaiba said hoarsely. "I'm sorry."

He didn't feel charitable. "Yeah, well save it for your brother, Kaiba. For when he grows up to be the selfish prick you're allowing him to become." Jounouchi sneered, and then wrestled free from the brunet's grasp. He didn't bother looking back, didn't care to see a single tear sliding down Seto's cheek.

Kaiba frowned as he watched his would-be lover leave. He was furious, and as much as he'd wanted to take it out on Jounouchi, he knew that doing so would have been misdirecting his fury. He walked over to the dry bar and poured himself a scotch, neat. He knew what he'd walked in on was one-sided, he had all confidence that the blond had no sexual interest in his brother, but he'd also been sure that Mokuba would never try something like that. He took a sip and stared out a window into the darkness. He was royally pissed at Mokuba, but there was still the part of him, the guardian and protector, who wanted to make it all better, to shield Mokuba from any pain he might suffer.

Jounouchi's words stung and rang true, but he felt helpless. He'd taken care of Mokuba as far back as he could remember, so to put his own well-being before his brother's was an anathema to the brunet. And yet Mokuba had willfully sabotaged the company that he'd poured his heart and soul into to make a play for his love interest. That action hurt the brunet deeply and infuriated him at the same time. He'd never been mad at Mokuba like he was at the moment, and that is why he'd chosen to stay with Jounouchi, rather than go after his brother when he ran away from them. He was afraid of what he would say to Mokuba. He knew the blond could take anything he dished out, and Jounouchi had proven that tonight.

He felt his chest tighten. He loved Katsuya. They'd said it to each other, and Jounouchi had admitted it to Mokuba. Perhaps, he thought as he sipped his scotch, that confession would open his brother's eyes. If he knew that he and Jounouchi were serious about their relationship, that it wasn't just a fling, it wouldn't hurt so bad. He drained his drink and wondered abjectly if he would manage to get any sleep. He thought about calling the blond just to make sure that he was okay, but he knew Jounouchi could take care of himself, but would be far from okay. He knew he wasn't.

He stripped to his undershirt and boxers, then curled up on the couch and pulled the throw over himself. Although the scene he'd walked in on had turned his stomach, he found some solace lying in the place that Jounouchi had so recently vacated.

Jounouchi sighed and let out a string of expletives. He'd been prone to doing that lately, since he'd left the Kaiba estate exactly one week ago. His extended foul mood had been duly noted by his father, who'd then had the wherewithal not to bust his balls over it. He'd decided on the long walk home that night that it would be a cold day in hell before he gave in and called the brunet, but his righteous anger hadn't stopped him from being miserable. He'd spent New Year's Eve at the gin mill his father hung out at with his drinking cronies, wondering what he was missing at the Kaiba household. He imagined Mokuba gloating over the elder Kaiba's misery and clenched his jaw. Just thinking about that whole episode that night, first with Mokuba violating him, and then Kaiba dumping him, was enough to get him pissed off all over again. Yet, as angry as he was, he was equally as lonely. He missed both Kaiba and Mokuba. He'd spent the lion's share of his waking hours with them, and despite how badly things had turned out, he wished that one or the other of the brothers would just come to their senses so that they could go back to the way they were. Well, not exactly, he certainly didn't want Mokuba pawing at him again. He shuddered involuntarily at the thought. It wasn't that Mokuba was unattractive, but it just felt so ... incestuous.

Mokuba had called him the very next day. At first Jounouchi had thought that his young friend was going to apologize, but as the teen had rambled on, ranting about his brother, the blond realized that the younger Kaiba brother was still operating under the delusion that he had a shot with him.

When Jounouchi had finally managed to get a word in edgewise, he knew his annoyance bled through in his voice.

"Mokuba, you need to leave me alone. Your brother was serious about pressing charges. I can't talk to you on the phone-you cannot call me anymore-and whatever you do, DON'T come to my apartment or the Game Shop when I'm working." He waited for the other teen to answer, and as the silence dragged on, Jounouchi continued, no longer caring whether or not the other teen was on the line, just feeling relieved to get it off his chest. "What you did last night was so WRONG on so many levels, and I hafta tell you, I feel violated, and I'm pissed at you. I've always treated you with nothing but respect, and I can't believe that you would do something like that to me. Hello? You there?" When there was no response, Jounouchi hung up, not knowing if the other teen had heard a word he'd said. He must have though, because he didn't call Jounouchi back.

In desperation, Jounouchi had finally confessed the entire sordid affair in an email to Anzu. Of his three closest friends, Jounouchi believed she would be the most sympathetic to his plight, and she had been, once she'd gotten over the initial shock that he and Kaiba had even been on speaking terms. She'd written a long and comforting note that had persuaded him to stick to his guns, and let Kaiba make the first move.

Unfortunately she'd had no good advice telling him how to hold onto his temper and his sanity until that event should occur.

The bell on the shop door tinkled, reminding Jounouchi of all the times he'd heard that sound and seen the brunet walking through the portal. He looked up and was completely shocked to see Kaiba strolling towards him. The brunet looked like Jounouchi felt-like death warmed over-and the blond took some satisfaction seeing the week's toll on the other teen. As Kaiba got closer, Jounouchi noticed deep circles under the brunet's eyes, and his face was ashen and gaunt.

He came up to the counter and stood opposite the blond. "Can we talk?"

"About what?"

"Mokuba."

"He's the last person I want to talk about." The blond grumbled, but then something in Kaiba's demeanor gave Jounouchi pause. "Kaiba, is he okay? What's going on?"

"I don't know Jounouchi," Kaiba managed in a strangulated voice. "I was hoping you might be able to shed some light. Mokuba's missing."

TBC