No Way In Hell (a Yu-Gi-Oh Fanfiction) by Seth's Kiss:
A/N: TA-DA! I've officially finished this fic! I am SO glad to have achieved that, YAY :D! I want to sincerely thank all of those who have read and/or followed this fic (it has had over 1800 views, so I am VERY happy)! Also, I finally opted to leave the epilogue as an additional chapter. Please do enjoy and have a nice day/night!
Responding to your reviews:
To talyak: Hello again! Totally agree with you; they should have kept their prying noses to themselves, LoL! I'm SO glad that you liked it, and I sincerely hope you'll like this chapter as well! Bye, dear!
Chapter 3: Come Again?
Mokuba decided that something was wrong. Very wrong.
He couldn't tell exactly what was wrong, but it was annoyingly, persistently, horridly there. And to make matters worse, it involved his brother, Seto. Now, that was never a good thing...
See, according to most people, the elder Kaiba sibling was extremely hard to read - not that Mokuba could argue with that. And if anyone ever attempted to read him, he usually passed up to be a total closed-off, apathetic jerk - not that Mokuba would fully argue with that either.
But, and there always is a 'but', since despite his perfect aloofness and self-control - which, alas, wasn't always maintained, since it didn't seem to work around Yugi and the gang, and especially not around Jounouchi - Seto Kaiba could not escape his habits.
Mokuba, being his brother, could, somewhat, easily detect when something troubled Seto, and that was precisely the case presently.
Whenever his big brother had something on his mind, something bothering him, he'd simply work ten times harder on multiple projects to keep him busy, and all of his intrusive thoughts off whatever it was that was plaguing him.
At first, the youngest sibling shrugged it off, thinking it was going to pass as usual. But this time, it's been going on for weeks- Or was it months now?
The raven-haired teenager kind of lost count at some point, but the important part was that this was becoming serious. Because even if this happened, his brother would usually push all and everything aside as soon as Mokuba would need to talk to him, whatever the reason.
Only this time, his dear brother had actually brushed him off with a curt 'Not now, Mokuba'. The teen had been tempted to retort, after the umpteenth time that it happened, 'Then when? The day of your funeral? 'Cause the way things are going, we'll bury you by morning'
But Mokuba had wisely steeled against it in the end, sighing in irritation and leaving in a huff.
After all, according to Roland, Seto didn't skip meals nor did he ditch sleep, which reassured the young one a little. But the one query remained, what on earth was on his brother's mind?
A bit at loss, he settled on asking, no later than this early afternoon, the only other person he knew who had an older brother. Shizuka. Only, BIG surprise. She had exactly the same issue.
'I don't know what's wrong with him,' she had informed him miserably over the phone 'He's been locking himself in his flat - more specifically his room - refuses to speak or come out. And when he does, it's usually to go off to work or go buy food- and he does that when no one's around, as both Honda and I have the keys. Mutou-san and the others have tried to get him to talk, but he just ignores them! And they're his friends! Most of the time, in everyday life, friends have more success than family with situations like these! I have no idea what to do anymore, Mokie. I'm just so worried.'
'You and I both,' had replied the raven-haired teen, perplexed by their own similar dilemma.
After talking a little more and trying to comfort and quell her concerns, Mokuba had hung up, brow furrowed in confusion. So Seto, and Jounouchi? ...What the heck was wrong with them?
Abruptly, and much to his dismay, an awkward conversation he had a good while back with Shizuka came to his mind, which he had started: 'Do you think that our brothers are dating?'
A zillion questions raced through the raven-haired at such speed that he felt very lightheaded. Had their joking assumption actually been...true? Their two brothers were dating?! Really?! For how bloody long? But wait...were they still dating? Had they broken up? Who initiated it? Seto or Shizuka's brother? Is that why they were completely out of it? Did they...miss each other? Regret each other? ...Each other?
How can he think that, when he never even imagined them together? No, actually he did, thanks to Shizuka... Apart from that, he knew his brother wasn't the dating type, definitely, with work and all, but since when was he gay? Not that he minded at all - it was his brother - but did it mean the blonde was also gay? If so...how deep was, or had their relationship been?
Mokuba flushed red as sudden images of his brother being far too intimate with Jounouchi forced their way into his head, and no matter how hard he shook it to push them out, they would push their way back in. A tug-of-war with a mutual push instead of a pull, if you will...
Gasping as he made himself dizzy, again, the raven-haired teen swiftly dashed off, thundering through the halls as he searched for his brother.
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Kaiba, who was downstairs in the kitchen pouring himself a glass of milk, after just having a shower (now clad in loose-fitted, casual cloths), heard his brother before he saw him, raising an eyebrow at all the noise he was making, before sighing indulgently.
He hadn't been fair recently with Mokuba this past month, coldly shutting him off when he wasn't at fault at all - or perhaps, partially was - for the thoughts permeating within his head, involving a certain blonde...
Viciously stifling the image of Jounouchi from his head, the brunet turned towards his younger sibling just as he appeared at the kitchen's doorway, out of breath and with a pink tint to his face, as he panted out breathlessly with great effort: "I- I have... I have a question..."
As the two brothers locked eyes, warm cerulean with regal sapphire, Seto, raising the glass to his lips, offered coolly: "I'm listening."
"Since when have you and Jounouchi been dating?!" exclaimed Mokuba loudly in baffled surprise, his face getting redder at the thought alone, whereas the oldest sibling, expecting ANYTHING, but that question, instantly choked on the milk, causing it to spurt everywhere.
A tray collapsed to the ground nearby as Roland, who had been peacefully preparing his early lunch, stood there frozen in shock before the raven-haired teen, barely taking notice of him, quickly ushered him away - to which the other happily complied, hurriedly sprinting away from the unsettling and growing awkwardness.
Looking back at his brother, and cringing slightly when he saw the milk dribbling from the other's parted lips - curse your yaoi, Shizuka - Mokuba tentatively cleared his throat slightly to draw the elder Kaiba's attention, as he had gone rigidly stock still.
Tensely, Seto slowly, very slowly, regarded his younger brother in bewildered shock: "What."
"I said-"
"I heard you, Mokuba," cut off brusquely the other with a wave of his hand, before he looked around, searching for a cloth to clean up the mess.
"Then why did you say-?"
"Because I can't believe that you're asking me this! Actually!" declared Seto vehemently, his face mostly pallid and yet slightly reddened as he pointed the recently acquired cloth in his brother's direction for emphasis, before fiercely cleaning up the spilled milk, and muttering under his breath, with the other barely catching onto a mumbled 'idiotic, blonde Make-inu' and 'so not happening'.
After watching his elder sibling in silence for a few seconds, the raven-haired bravely piped up: "Can you at least answer?"
Flabbergasted by his younger brother's insistence, Seto threw his hands up in the air, high exasperation laced within his voice: "Wha- Fine! No! A resounding and loud NO! I don't! Why would even think that?! I mean, it is common knowledge that we two can't stand each other! So what. The. Freaking hell?!"
Laughing nervously, Mokuba rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly: "Well, see, I kind of thought that-"
"You wouldn't have thought anything like that at all, if you hadn't been dating a yaoi-crazed lunatic for the past ten months!"
Tense silence weaved itself in the air as the brunet's jaw dropped slightly in utter horrification at he just unthinkingly blurted out, while the raven-haired teen froze, afraid he heard right: "Wait. Come again?"
"You heard nothing, Mokuba," declared the elder sibling tightly before setting the cloth down and walking away "I have work to do."
"No, no, no. You are not going to use that as an excuse every time you want to run away!" called out the younger Kaiba irritably as he quickly followed his brother into the hallway "What on earth was that?! How do you even know that?!"
"Know what?" drawled out Kaiba as he kept striding on, feigning sheer and utter innocence.
"That Shizuka likes yaoi?! And that I've been...dating her?!" exclaimed Mokuba with a dark blush, before his eyes then widened in faint horror "Have you-? Have you been stalking us?!"
"You're delusional," insisted the brunet as he hastened his pace, only to come to a frustrating halt when his younger brother stood in front of him, blocking his path.
"Then HOW do you know?!"
"Not the problem here, Mokuba," steeled Kaiba, crossing his arms "The real one should be, why you are dating her, even if it's just to blow off the other girls?"
"I...Uh-" stammered Mokuba at first, before he fully, actually realized what the other had said "Whoa, whoa. You really have too much information, Seto. And why the hell am I taking the blame now?!"
"Because her brother is no other than that-"
"Yeah, well, she and her brother are two SEPERATE beings! I'm not dating Jounouchi, come on! I'm not even dating Shizuka!" yelled the younger of the two furiously, before he muttered unhappily under his breath "Regrettably."
Seto's sapphire blue eyes widened at that: "Regrettably? Mokuba. Do you-? Do you like her?"
"It's..." hesitated the raven-haired teen with lowered eyes, before he sighed rather wistfully "It's more than that."
Regarding his younger brother, and coming to a sudden realization that Mokuba's flirtation with the other's sister had been genuine, the brunet inquired tentatively: "And...What of her?"
"I'm not sure. Besides, it's- it's never going to happen. Not with the brothers we have, whether the 'hating each other' part is real or not," the younger sibling sighed yet again, half-glaring at his brother, before he began to saunter off, sadness in his step "You should get back to your work."
Mokuba had already crossed most of the hallway, when Seto spoke up quietly, his tone near apologetic: "I've been distant lately because- because of what you and that idiot's sister said."
Frowning in confusion and curiosity, the teenager halted in his steps: "About what? ...When?"
"Back in the National library, a month ago-"
Going petrified, the raven-haired teen's jaw went entirely slack at that: "...You were there?!"
When his older brother confirmed it with a curt nod, Mokuba's groaned in mortification: "Oh no, no, no- Wait. Was Jounouchi there?"
Another nod, and this one even further rigid then the first: "And- You heard...what exactly?"
And with one sole word, the poor younger Kaiba felt like dying there and then: "Everything."
After one agonizing moment of sheer silence, Mokuba, beyond embarrassed by this point, sheepishly fumbled with his words: "So, um..."
Kindly ignoring his brother's discomfort, Seto steadily began admitting his own recent concerns: "Since, because of you two, or more specifically, because of that girl's words, I..."
Raising his eyebrows at his older brother's hesitance to continue and the obvious indecision flickering upon his face, Mokuba chanced, what he supposed to be, an entirely off-the-course guess: "You...can't get him out of your head, or something?"
Only the younger of the two didn't at all expect to be that spot on, as Kaiba nodded at that: "And it's seriously starting to annoy me."
"Do..." began Mokuba hesitantly, with his big eyes larger than ever "Do you, like, love him?"
Seto glared murderously at the wall in front of him, his reply instant and unwavering: "No."
"Like him?"
"No."
"Hate him?"
At that, Seto faltered once more, frowning: "I used to think so. Now, after a lot of pondering and reflection, I'm not so...sure."
"Then, what do you feel for him?"
Frustration glinted in the young CEO's eyes as he admitted begrudgingly: "I just don't know."
"Wow," whistled Mokuba in absolute bafflement, fully taken aback by this entire dialogue "Uncertainty. That's a first, for you."
"Tell me about it," muttered the brunet as he crossed his arms in sheer irritation, wondering what on earth he had done to deserve this - then again, given who he was, that statement was quite a little redundant.
After another moment of brief silence, as the brothers mulled on everything, the raven-haired teenager spoke up again tentatively: "Why...Why don't you give it a try?"
"I don't follow."
"You know," shrugged Mokuba, trying to play it of nonchalantly "You two could go out on a date or something."
Initial puzzlement evaporating to naught, Seto's eyebrows flew up high, before he intoned incredulously, punctuating each word with heavy scepticism: "You want me to ask Jounouchi Katsuya. To go out. The two of us. Together. On A DATE?!"
"Uh, yeah. Sorry," mumbled Mokuba uncomfortably, before pulling out his tongue childishly "I guess Shizuka's rubbing off on me."
"You don't say?" sneered the elder Kaiba sarcastically, before sighing and absentmindedly waving a hand as he started sauntering off again "I'm the only one with issues here, so I won't dragging him along. I'll work this - whatever this is - out on my own."
"Actually, I spoke to Shizuka this morning. Her brother's been acting just like you this past month. I'd say you need to work things out together," informed Mokuba dismissively, missing the way Seto stared at him, before the teenager merely shrugged it off and ran away "But I might be wrong. So...Very nice awkward-talking to you! See you later!"
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Humming to herself softly, Shizuka moved around her brother's flat, doing a little cleaning up, and sighing every now and then when her gaze fell upon Jounouchi's tightly locked door. What on earth was her dear brother hiding from?
Although terribly concerned for her brother, she also had another problem, and this one just as terrible. For she was hopelessly, madly, truly in love. With Mokuba Kaiba of all people.
Sighing yet again, she sat down on the couch and rested her head upon her propped up hand as her mind raced. With her brother, she was positively sure that murder, or at least something close to it, would be on the menu; with Mokuba's brother...she wasn't so sure as she barely knew him and was slightly intimidated by him - and that despite Mokuba speaking highly of him - but she strongly doubted he'd approve either.
Gosh, why, why did their two brothers have to despise each other so much? It just wasn't fair. Just like life was...
The doorbell rang all of a sudden, cutting Shizuka out of her thoughts before strolling off to go open it, wondering who it may be. Imagine her sheer shock, when she looked through the oculus and she saw Kaiba Seto on the doorstep.
...Ok. That was a chilling coincidence.
Bravely unlocking the door, she peeped out from behind it and offered the other a small smile: "Kaiba-san?"
"Jounouchi Junior," replied the other curtly in a no-nonsense tone as he eyed her with slight disapproval, giving her the impression she had done something utterly wrong.
"Um... So, c-can I...help you?" she offered tentatively, cowering slightly before the other's piercing eyes.
"Despite me really wanting to give you a piece of my mind right now concerning you fake-dating my brother in secrecy," started off Kaiba sternly, smirking a little with mirth when the girl in front of him instantly went red with embarrassment, before he raised his eyebrows with an air of indifference "You're, currentl,y not my concern."
"Uh, th-thank you? I guess?" squeaked out Shizuka, wondering how on earth Mokuba's big brother found out...almost everything - since in his one sentence, he had summarized Mokuba and her situation perfectly - whilst also feeling like she had been let off a little too easily.
"Hn. Bring me your brother."
Ah. So that's why.
Fidgeting under the other's gaze, she stuttered out in a rush of words: "Oh, um... That may be a little problem. You see, he doesn't want to leave his room. Not even his friends managed to get him out. So..."
"MAKE-INU!" shouted out firmly the CEO all of a sudden, seeking to catch Jounouchi's attention while startling Shizuka "Get the hell out! If you don't, I'll be abducting your sister!"
Not sensing that the other wasn't that serious and that it was, in fact, a mere jibe for the other, the blonde's sister paled a little: "Wha-?!"
She wasn't the only one fooled, for no less than a few seconds later, the door to her brother's room flung open before Jounouchi charged out, stormed up to the entrance and levelled Kaiba a deadly don't-you-dare glare, with the blonde seething out dangerously: "The hell you are!"
"And so, the d- the wolf ran out," commented the brunet casually, keeping his jibes civil in front of the other's sister, while smirking loftily at the blond who merely snarled in retaliation.
Not taking his eyes of the CEO, Jounouchi gently addressed his sister: "Go back in, Shizuka."
"O-Okay," she stammered softly, glancing to and fro between the two boys inquisitively, before murmuring to her elder sibling just as she closed the door "Thank you, Katsuya-chan."
Smiling at her faintly before she shut the door, the blonde male then scowled at the other: "You little sneak."
"But you know that already," shrugged Kaiba offhandedly, as he put his hands in his pockets, "Nothing new."
"Hmpf," snorted Jounouchi with a click of his tongue and a sneer, before he stared at the other warily from the corner of his eye "What do you want?"
"To clear something up," responded the young CEO vaguely, not meeting the blonde's gaze.
"Yeah? And what has that got to do with me, hm?"
Sapphire eyes finally locked dead on with chocolate ones: "Because you're the one I need to clear up on."
Dumbfounded by the other's response and way of responding, Jounouchi raised his eyebrows: "Huh?"
"I- I... I had a rather, sort of, enlightening conversation this afternoon with Mokuba, and I- I-"
"Look, um, as much as your family affairs don't concern me, can you cut to the chase?" interrupted the blonde, a bewildered frown to his face "The less we talk and the better I feel."
"Then why are you holed up in your kennel like a beaten dog?" countered the brunet male just as brusquely whilst he crossed his arms.
Surprisingly, at least from the CEO's perspective, when Jounouchi flushed red, it wasn't out of anger, but rather out of embarrassment.
"You've GOT to stop it with the dog metaphors, damn it! Good gosh! You are so annoyin' and such a prick and- and-"
"Mokuba knows that we know," informed Kaiba evenly, cutting off the other before he began a never-ending rant.
As the blonde regarded the other with wide stunned eyes, a loud sound of dishes crashing to the floor from inside the flat reached their ears, accompanied by a shrill squeak of discomfort.
"Well, apparently, so does Shizuka now," noted the blonde inattentively, before he inquired "So? So, so, what now? Like, what now? You're goin' to have them stop meetin' each other or somethin'?"
"They're not my prime preoccupation for now."
Jounouchi actually had to blink at that: "Really? Huh. Ha! And you were so against it and all."
"So were you, last I recall. More than I, should I add," pointed out the brunet, before he drew the focus back on the actual reason for his visit "Listen, the current issue here is you and I."
Back in the flat, a few more dishes take the fall and this time a long breathy gasp was heard, causing Kaiba to raise an eyebrow and Jounouchi to shoot a confused look at the door behind him, wondering what was wrong with his sister.
"There's always been a problem between us, you know," stated the blonde after a moment, looking back at the other male, puzzled as to where the CEO was going with this discussion.
"'Has been' is the keyword," stressed out the brunet meaningfully as he took an indolent step closer to the blonde "What about now?"
Sensing that something was very off with Kaiba and having a slight icky, foreboding feeling, Jounouchi tried to flee: "I- I have nothin' to say to you, rich boy. So, uh, good night an' all."
Just as the blonde was about to wrench the door open, but the other, faster, slammed his hand against it, right beside Jounouchi's startled face, before Kaiba murmured in a slow, low tone: "Don't be a coward."
"Am NOT!" countered the other, suddenly very self-conscious of the CEO's entire presence, and nervously attempting to back away in the very enclosed space he was now caged within.
"Then don't run."
"Wait, wait a sec, K-Kaiba..." stammered the blonde anxiously, instantly pressing his hands against the other's chest as the brunet leaned more into his personal space "T-t-too...CLOSE!"
"I promise," said the young CEO in a whisper, with uncharacteristic but genuine sincerity, as he determinedly continued to inch forward still "I'll back off as soon as I check something."
At that, the blonde frowned in slight bewilderment and strong apprehension: "...Check wha-?"
Jounouchi, however, never finished his sentence. Not that he could have, with Kaiba kissing him. Yep. The young arrogant CEO and merciless jerk of the every year, was KISSING him...
The blonde was SO stunned that he went completely lax, unknowingly giving the other the advantage to deepen the kiss, and draw closer to Jounouchi, pressing him up against the door.
As the blonde's had parted his lips in shock, Kaiba tentatively grew bolder, letting his tongue inch its way in. And so, the kiss lasted for barely a minute, yet it felt like forever...and when the other had unconsciously begun responding, the brunet finally withdrew, licking at his lips.
"So... What do you think? How was it?" inquired the young CEO brunet hesitantly, before he faltered slightly when the other remained utterly unresponsive, as if passed out with his eyes blown wide open "Jounouchi?"
"Wet."
The brunet raised his eyebrows at that reply: "I'm being serious."
"So am I. It. Was. Wet," deadpanned the blonde, before the full realization of what had just transpired with whom hit him hard, leaving room to embarrassment and anger "What the heck was it ANYWAY? Who died and gave you permission to KISS me?! (Plates fall again) SHIZUKA! STOP THAT OR I'LL BE HAVIN' A SHORTAGE OF DISHWARE! AND I WON'T BE EATIN' OFF THE TABLE, DAMN IT!"
"YO!" yelled all of a sudden a neighbour, appearing from his now open door as he stood in the hallway "KEEP IT DOWN, PUNK!"
"AH! SHUT UP!" seethed the blonde just as loudly, veins throbbing all over his beetroot red face "IF MY SISTER WASN'T AROUND, I'LL TELL YOU EXCATLY WHAT I THINK ABOUT YOU, JUNKIE FREAK!"
"COME ON, KID! ZIP IT! I'M TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT HERE!"
"SO ARE WE!" shouted back Jounouchi before he paused awkwardly, glancing at the CEO beside him "Uh, no, I- I didn't say anythin'. What was THAT anyway, Kaiba?!"
As the neighbour went back inside grumbling, the brunet merely shrugged nonchalantly: "Told you. I needed to clarify things up."
"Clarify WHAT?!"
"I simply wanted to test whether your sister and my brother's assumption would hold up any."
"So you KISS me?! Where's the bleedin' logic in that, smarty-pants?" hissed the blonde male, utter disbelief and frustration upon his features, before he then frowned and held up a hand "Wait. Hold up. I thought only my sister shipped us."
"...Shipped?" echoed Kaiba with raised eyebrows, utterly perplexed by the foreign expression; because what did boats have to do with any of this?
"Argh. Just silly yaoi talk," groaned Jounouchi exasperatedly, before he snapped defensively when the other stared at him intently "WHAT?!"
"I thought you weren't aware that your sister was a fan."
"I wasn't. But I was, regrettably for my health, curious and... Well, you know what they say."
"Ah, yes. Curiosity killed the dog."
"Wha-? It's 'cat', Kaiba. Curiosity killed the cat."
"No, I'm pretty sure it's 'dog'."
"No, it's not-" insisted the blonde with a frown, before he realized what the other was doing, especially now that he noticed the other smirking "Oh, hey! Why you-?!"
Dropping the fun teasing for now, Kaiba sobered up: "You still didn't answer me, Jounouchi."
Forcefully ignoring the odd-like feeling which abruptly emerged due to the other calling him by name for once, the blonde male tried to follow: "What about?"
"What was it like?"
Puzzled at first, the blonde then flushed as he finally caught on: "...The kiss? Uh. What're ya askin' exactly?"
By now, Kaiba looked both very uneasy and exasperated, as he drawled out slow and bitingly: "Would you want me to maybe draw you a picture, or are you that naturally dense?"
"Please, don't make it graphic," groaned out the blonde with a shudder as he buried his face in his hands before perking up as he heard a genuine chuckle "Didn't know you could laugh."
Sapphire blue gems for eyes glittered then a slight: "There's a lot you don't know about me."
"True," agreed the blonde male slowly, before he pointed at himself with a serious expression "And you don't know much about me either."
Only able to nod at that, while looking a tad distant for a second or two, the young CEO then admitted quietly: "Not that we ever really tried-"
"I did actually," stated the blonde as he raised his chin and put his hands on his hips, defiant "You brushed me off. So I just ended up hatin' your arrogant guts."
And Kaiba had to hold back a laugh: "That doesn't even make sense. Guts can't be arrogant."
"Yours are."
"You're still evading the question, Jounouchi."
Hoping that he had managed to make the other forget about the matter altogether, Jounouchi sighed, before smiling crookedly at the other's staunch tenacity: "Not lettin' this go, are you?"
"Until I have an answer, no, I'm not."
"What about you?"
"I asked you first," came out the brunet's firm and oddly defensive reply, causing the blonde male to regard at the other inquisitively.
"Well..." began Jounouchi slowly, thinking it all through as he rubbed at the back of his neck "I didn't kick or punch you yet, so, I'm not goin' to say that I liked it, but, didn't hate it either. Sort of like I feel about you."
"Ah, I see," nodded the brunet, entirely serious, before he deadpanned "Same here, actually."
Chocolate brown eyes went wide as the blonde regarded the other directly: "You're bluffin'?"
"I'm not," promised Kaiba "I can't figure out what to do with you, now that I don't loathe you irrationally, just like that out of the blue. Can't even seem to remember what started it all. "
"O-k..." uttered the Jounouchi slowly "But I warn you, you and I are so not suddenly a thing."
Plates fall once more, but this time they are completely ignored, as the two young men were too absorbed in their conversation.
Little did they know, was Shizuka had unwittingly succeeded in destroying all the dishware - seemed that her brother would be eating off the table after all.
"Absolutely not," confirmed Kaiba with a slight grimace "That was merely- Wait. Suddenly? Did you... Are you considering us to be an 'us'?"
Grinning at the other's stunned and perhaps slightly aghast expression, the blonde shrugged: "As friends. Yeah, why not?"
The CEO's expression relaxed at that, before returning the smile: "I don't mind that either."
Beaming a bit more, Jounouchi then narrowed his eyes half-heartedly at the other: "Though usually people don't befriend each other by kissin', you know."
Raising an eyebrow high and smirking, the brunet taunted teasingly: "You're still onto that?"
"Well, with my wayward life - delinquency there, family problems here - that was my first k-"
Kaiba's smirk fell as the other halted on his words, evidently mortified, before the CEO looked away with a faint blush: "I'm so sorry. If it's any consolation, it was my first kiss too."
"For real?! Wow, you're a good kisser. I mean, I- Uh... Like I have nothing to compare it too, but-"
"Thank you," accepted Kaiba with a genuine smile, greatly shocking the other male twice in one move. Gratitude and a smile?
"Say, did you just...?"
The smile instantly evaporated away, leaving room to stern reprimand upon his expression: "Don't make it weird."
"But this whole situation IS freakin' weird!" exclaimed Jounouchi with an incredulous laugh, still feeling like this whole thing was some dream. Maybe it was. Maybe he was just delirious.
"Well, I guess that this would have never occurred in the first place if we didn't go snooping around in our siblings' lives," pointed out the blue-eyed Duellist, as he found himself honestly wondering what would have happened if they hadn't.
"Suppose not. And we'd still be hating each other unconditionally. For no reason on top of it."
After considering it for a moment, Kaiba admitted: "Somehow, now, I don't like the thought."
The blonde male stared at the other, before a soft smile touched his lips: "Me neither, I guess. Oh, by the way, about Shizuka and Mokuba...?"
The young CEO couldn't help but grimace faintly at that: "It seems like their feelings for each other are genuine. But I'm still not fully convinced that them being together...is a good idea."
Despite agreeing with the other, Jounouchi just shrugged and grinned: "Meh. They're young. They'll get over it."
Once again, the unexpected tended to tail Jounouchi incessantly despite his aversion of it. And now, it seemed to also wedge itself within Kaiba's life also, for some strange reason. For, no less than exactly four years later from that day, Mokuba and Shizuka face their respective brothers, courageously asking them both, for their permission to let the two youngest marry. And no way in hell had either Kaiba or Jounouchi ever seen that coming.