Keeping it short. Because I'm finishing chapter 10 X3. Here's what needs to be here:
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh! They all belong to Kazuki Takahashi!
WARNING: This contains slight shounen-ai and Yaoi hinting. Meaning boyxboy shit. Fuck off if you find it offensive.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O- Indicates end of scene. Because, c'mon, you can tell which one's a dream and which one's real, right?
THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS! I will now not give personalized reviews, because this story has reached over 100 reviews, on this site and others! Thank you for supporting me despite the lack of updates! BUT for one person, who asked me to e-mail them, I didn't see your e-mail address in the review XD; SOrry!
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When All Else Fails, Chapter 9
Late at night when all the world is sleeping
I stay up and think of you and I wish on a star
That somewhere you are thinking of me too
'Cause I'm dreaming of you tonight
'Til tomorrow I'll be holding you tight
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be
Than here in my room dreaming about you and me
I wonder if you ever see me (see me)
and I wonder if you know I'm there (am I there, am I?)
If you looked in my eyes would you see what's inside
Would you even care
I just wanna hold you close but so far
All I have are dreams of you
So I wait for the day (wait for the day) and the courage to say
How much I love you
Yes, I do
-Dreaming of you, by Selena
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo----------------------------
He stumbled into his apartment, haphazardly throwing off his shoes and flopping onto the threadbare couch, breathing heavily and shutting his eyes tightly in what seemed to be unbearable pain.
'That fucking bastard had a gun.'
The blonde tried not to dig his fingers into his side painfully, tried not to dig into the shot wound, and instead lay there and breathed as evenly as he could.
They had fought, yeah- it was pretty even too, considering the fact that he had plenty of experiences with knife fights and he could take on anyone with a simple switchblade. All you had to do was dodge and watch where the guy (and, in the very rare case, girl) swung the thing.
But, guns? He had little to no experience with those. When he was in a gang, it was practically the code of conduct; if anyone had a gun, they couldn't use it in fights and it had to have the safety on. No one used a gun in gang fights, and no one used a gun to threaten a person. Unless, of course, the person was threatening to kill someone else.
So, he had been more than a little surprised when the guy had pulled a 9mm on him and swore to blow a hole in his head if he didn't hand over his jacket, shirt, and money. He never even thought guys got that desperate these days.
So, of course he refused. He thought it was a bluff, like the gun was empty or it was really a toy gun that looked real. Like in Duel Monsters or Go fish or whatever. But, noooo. The guy had a real gun that he had decided to shoot.
It wasn't so simple to dodge a bullet as it was a blade. But he had made it. Somehow. Barely.
So, while he was lying on the ground and hunched over in pain, the guy had decided that that was the opportune time to take whatever he could get.
The guy had taken his fucking jacket, of course, even though it was soaked with blood by the time he had took it off. And he had also ripped his shirt up so much that he had to take it off and press it into the bloody flesh that was currently his side. Fucking bastard.
"Fuck's sake…" He mumbled, wincing as he sat up as slowly as he could and dropping the soaked shirt with it. At least the bullet had only grazed his left side. Sure, there was a lot of bleeding, and it hurt like hell, but it was just a graze.
He winced again as another shot of pain ran through him. Ok. Convincing himself it was only a minor wound was just… stupid.
The blonde knew he definitely couldn't go to the police, or even the hospital, for this. For one thing, he never trusted the cops. For another, the hospital knew that when he came around, he was coming around for a kind of injury you couldn't just get in a normal jump. They would, unquestionably, tell the cops. For the last thing, this would get on the news. Telling of a teen that get shot in the streets of Domino for petty cash and some raggy clothes.
The news was not his friend right now.
If the story made it on the news, and he showed up with a gun wound in school the day it aired, it would be right away connected to him. And it would spread. Then, people he didn't even know would connect him to his fucking father, and the Jounouchi's would be the fucking talk of the town. He could just imagine what they would start saying.
'Oh, I always knew they were bad eggs!'
'Not surprising that the boy is falling in the father's steps.'
'No wonder his wife left him and her son behind!'
He yelped as he felt the burning pain of something digging into the slowly bleeding wound, and he realized that his fingers had been digging into his injury as he thought about what other people would say.
Other people would include Seto Kaiba, he thought bitterly, careful not to dig his fingers in again. He could definitely count on Kaiba to mock him and say things he didn't want to here. New mutt jokes! New poor jokes! Even though dueling wasn't involved, he wouldn't be surprised if their were new dueling jokes!
He scoffed. Kaiba probably had a bunch of comedians working around the clock to make jokes about him and everything about him.
He lay there for a few more minutes, thinking about Kaiba before he realized three things:
1) Why was he thinking about Kaiba?
2) He had started bleeding heavily again. Probably due to his stupidity of deciding to feel the inside of a bullet wound.
3) He was bleeding all over the couch. He cursed at this. His dad would kill him for it, surely.
Slowly, he got up, keeping the curses under his breathe in fear of waking anybody up. The greedy landlord would, of course, jump at the first chance of evicting them if he found a stupid reason to do so. Eviction meant that that lady that had called would find out he no longer had a home. That meant adoption.
Adoption sometimes meant moving away from everything you knew. Shit, adoption always meant leaving everything you knew.
He couldn't help but take a few deep breathes before trying to walk again, making it to the bathroom with out falling over and howling. He should have treated it sooner. His vision was starting to get fuzzy and he was getting dangerously close to vomiting. He was dizzy, too.
The blonde tried to shrug it off, along with all of his paranoid delusions, and opened the cabinet door. Thankful that he was smart enough to at least keep their medicinal cabinet stocked up and full of bandages, he took out what he needed and began to slowly move away from the bathroom to one of the other rooms.
With careful steps and stops every time he got woozy, he made it into the living room with all of the things he needed and sat down on the now-blood-stained couch. It took him a few minutes before he got everything ready, cursing every time something went wrong, but it he finally started bandaging the wound.
His thoughts were wrapping themselves around what little, stable mind he had left, and he started cursing things. Fuck that guy. Fuck his father. Fuck himself. Fuck himself for going out at 3-4 o'clock in the morning to go for a fucking walk when he could have asked Grandpa Mouto for a longer lunch break and thought then. Fuck it all.
When he was finished the wrapping, he threw the rest of the bandages and the small scissors across the room and collapsed back onto the couch, eyes squeezing shut at the new, uncomfortable feeling of tape tight against the injury.
Maybe he could skip half of the school day tomorrow. He could tell everyone that he was having trouble with the landlord, and that he had to clean up the place a little, and do a lot of shopping and things. Make it neat and tidy. Of course, his friends would tease him about it, being 'little maid Jou!', and Yugi would worry about him since he wouldn't show up at his house today, but, fuck, he didn't care. He needed to sleep.
Sleep sounded good. Very good. Skipping school did too… He could sleep this day and the next away… Go back to the shop and get his clothes before school started tomorrow…
The last thought before he finally drifted off was 'Fuck Seto Kaiba too.'.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
"Gomen, Takato-sensei, I had to take care of a few things with my family." He bowed halfway and stood up again after a few seconds, keeping his head low and eyes fixed onto the ground.
"Oh? Lawyer problems?" The teacher laughed, as if his joke was the funniest there was while Jounouchi gritted his teeth against the bad-tasted stab at his problems. He had to endure this, he had no choice but to endure this.
"Ah, whatever. Go run with the rest of the kids, Jounouchi." And with that, the brunette teacher turned his back on him and walked away to another, 'better' student calling for his help.
Fuck. He was getting really sick of people turning their backs on him.
Never the less, he couldn't very well hit the teacher after he dismissed him from what could have been another mark on his already dirty record. He didn't need the suspension or any other punishment right now.
He sighed. The teachers really seemed to hate him lately. Not because he was 'that punk'. No, now he was so much more. He was the kid that had a father that molested young girls! They all probably thought he was going to follow in his dear daddy's steps now!
Yeah fucking right.
He waved to Yugi and Anzu (and ignored Honda completely) as they passed by, both (or all, if you counted Honda) of them shooting him a worried look, but they were forced to give him a passing wave instead of stopping outright and fawning over him. Mr.Takato had a very strict policy about the fifteen minute run. If he saw you standing around, he'd make you do it in front of the entire class. If you didn't do 8 laps in 5 minutes, too, he'd make you do it again, and again, and again…
You also had to stretch. If you ran outright from the change room, you'd do even more extra running.
The blonde pulled up his arms and frowned, ignoring the tiny niggling in the back of his mind that told him he should be careful of something, or slow down. He forgot exactly what though.
He shrugged, putting down his arms and cracking the fingers before getting ready to bend over to stretch his legs. Oh well. It must have not been that impo-
"Holy Fucking SHIT!"
"What was that, Jounouchi Katsuya!"
"I said 'Coolly lucking it!'!"
He got no response from the teacher for the bad excuse (which he took as a good sign), and continued to stretch as best he could. The brown-eyed boy bit his lip against the pain one stretch caused and cursed himself inside and out.
Of course he was going to overexert himself today! He had a fucking bullet wound in his side and Mr. Takato as a gym teacher! What was he asking for, suicide? Why hadn't he come a little later, maybe after physical education? He could have came during English or History or something!
He decided to cut off the rest of those thoughts because they were putting him in a foul mood, plus he'd been ready to run for 30 seconds already. He had to concentrate on not ripping open his side again and focus on something else besides the probably-bleeding injury.
Slowly, the teen began to run, frowning against the pain and how slow he was going. He just hoped no one would notice that fact.
5 laps later (with many distracting thoughts… Mr.Rivedo in a tutu… The English language… Seto Kaiba and him fu- Woah, shit, he wasn't going there), he found himself going slower then even before. So much that he looked like he was just trying to look like he was jogging. And his side was really hurting. God damn the stupid track field, and how big it was… It was so big…
He blinked as his sight got bright spots in it for a moment and he stumbled, swearing lightly. The blonde blinked again as he heard his own voice, slightly slurred. Like he was drunk. Or really sick. Or something.
Those spots again…
And he was back again, looking at a smiling Yugi and Anzu (still not counting Honda, who looked uncomfortable). "Hey Jou!"
"…Hey." His voice sounded slightly less slurred. Still slurred. And there were even more spots in his vision that were staying instead of fading. What…?
"Jou, what happened to you last night! I wa-"
"Jounouchi! Oh me God! You're side!"
"Jou, man, what t-"
"TAKATO-SENSEI! JOU IS BL-"
"Move out of the way, you idiots!"
Geez. He swore that that was Kaiba's voice just not. That was impossible. Kaiba didn't have emotion like that.
'Impossible, as you're-life-is-going-to-hell-in-a-hand basket impossible? That's not impossible.'
With that, he blacked out.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
"Jounouchi… Happy Birthday."
He felt the tap on his shoulder and a present was thrust in his vision, making him grin and look up. The blonde gave a quick kiss on the cheek of his lover, voice teasing and mocking (much like those house wives on TV) as he looked back to examine the package. "Oh, Seto! You remembered! And you shouldn't have!"
All he got in return was a small smile and a slightly comical voice that oozed working-man (TV-style). "Open it. You'll like it."
He nodded, fingers twirling around the ribbon that adorned the top and dropping the overworked act. "Ok."
Slowly, his fingers slid down the ribbon until they had a hold of one end and he gently pulled at them, causing the loose decoration to fall away. He flitted his fingers over the tape keeping the lid and grinned cutely. "Never one for wrapping, were you Seto?"
"Shut up, mutt. At least I don't wrap it in newspaper."
He laughed at that, peeling the pieces of tape away one by one until he had finished the last piece and started pulling the box open. "Fine, fine! It's the tho- Woah!"
The brown-eyed duelist stared inside the box at the intricately designed bracelet, from the silver plate that shined brilliantly (even in the dull light), to the dragons that twisted around it and went off to the side to hold the fairly large chain in place.
He quickly picked it up (taking care not to smudge his fingerprints on the plate or to wreck the bracelet somehow. He had a knack for ruining things) and stared hard at the letters that didn't quite make sense to him. A wash of light flooded over it, and he smiled at his lover. "Thanks!"
Again, he looked at it, finally noticing what the rather plain letters (he had thought it would be those kind of swoopy ones that went off to the side) stated.
'Katsuya Jounouchi
January 25, 1987'
"An ID bracelet!" He smiled happily and pecked the brunette on the cheek, trying to quell the slight disappointment inside of him. He thought it would've been something more… romantic, for lack of a better word, like a declaration of undying love. Sure, this was expensive, but…
"You didn't read the rest, mutt. Turn it over."
"Huh?" Rest? What rest?
He turned it over slowly, heart pounding loudly in his ears as he read the other lines that were present.
'Dreams are for Lovers.
You'll discover.'
Aishiteru, Katsuya
-Seto
It was a very short quote, and in those swoopy letters, but…
"Seto…"
If you'd have to know one thing about Seto Kaiba, you'd know that he wasn't the type of person to say 'I love you' very much.
Sure, he said it enough, especially when he knew when to say it and how much it meant at a moment. But that was very little; he had always stated that love was thrown around to freely these days, and that it was always an unsure thing. That was why Jou had only heard it 5 times, tops.
To get it permanently engraved into something, though? He felt a lump (of something that wasn't tears! Men didn't cry!) in his throat rising. That must have been such a big step, and all of the risks of getting it done…
"Look deeper. There's a piece of paper."
He nodded, not even trying to object or make a teasing comment, and lifted the piece of paper that had been under the bracelet. He delicately unfolded it and blinked back any surprise after reading it.
In Seto's girly handwriting, it simply said: 'I.O.U. another present, and something else. Ask me what.'
He nodded to himself before looking up, giving him a brilliant smile. "I don't need anymore presents, Seto! These are so…" He paused, unable to find any words. "So… Fuck, Thank you!"
The blonde launched himself at the brunette over the couch in half a second, making them both fall over, and he gave a happy giggle (which he would later deny and say it was a burp). "How could you buy me something so… expensive! Never mind that you're the richest man in Domino, but… No more presents!"
The brunette took a few breathes to regain his air and then smiled as best one could when they had the wind knocked out of them. "Then take it as a present from me for me."
"Wha- No! Bastard! No fair!"
"Be quiet, puppy. I still got one more present to give you."
"Seto! You're… Geez… You're making me all… You're…" Fuck. He had nothing he could think of to say besides a thousand thank you's. So, instead, he asked. "What's this other present, anyway? I could just live with out it, ya know."
"Yes, you could, but you've wanted this for a while too." The rich teen suddenly seemed to get slightly flustered, a tint of barely-noticeable red on his cheeks.
The blonde took note of this, giving a teasing grin. "Really? What is it, then?"
"Remember how you said that I'm always topping you and that you wanted to try it?"
"…Yeah?" If Seto was going to say what he thought he was going to say…
"You can be top tonight… I decided that you shoul-"
The brunette was cut off by the blonde grabbing his face and giving him one of those big, sloppy kisses a dog would give if he kissed like a person. Jou laughed as he pulled away, wrapping his arms around the brunette's neck. "Are you serious, Seto? You'll let me top you, and without complaint?"
"Yes, idiot!"
Holy shit, Seto was going to let him top! Him, the blonde idiot, top Seto, the icy cold CEO!
He grinned as the brunette looked away, giving him a teasing kiss on his ear lobe. "Seto, it won't be that bad. You know how it feels when you're inside me?"
"Yes?"
"Way better."
"… I'll take your word on it." The brunette looked back up and gave a small smile again, which changed into a smirk after that. "Only once. You better not complain after this, either."
"Of course not, Seto!" He gave a cheeky grin. "C'mon. Let's go to the bed, then! Topping for the first time isn't going to be great if you get rug burn from it."
"…" The taller teen chose to stay silent at this, and the shorter duelist grinned again and led the other boy by the hand towards the elaborate master bedroom. He laughed silently as he walked, giving a wave to Mokuba as they passed his bedroom. Finally, his day had come!
He could practically feel the tension coming off of the brunette. He'd have to fix that.
Another silent laugh to himself as he opened the door and led the other inside and to the bed after closing said door.
He smiled one more time before he tugged on the other's shirt. "Take it off. Less clothes to rip!"
Again, not a word from the brunette as he took off the shirt, and he took off his own shirt as he thought about what to do. Get the brunette to ride him? From the back? Get him to suck him off first?
He looked over the young CEO as he sat on the bed, looking relaxed and as if he didn't have a care in the world. The blonde could tell, though; His shoulders were slightly hunched over and the other had the tick that said person didn't even know about developing in his eyebrow.
The shorter bottom (now to be top!) grinned languidly again as he walked over to the brunette and climbed onto his lap, kissing the corner of his mouth and whispering. "Relax."
He felt the forced-relaxation and practically laughed before he began to place kisses on the brunette. On the brow, the corner of the eye, the cheek, the ear, the neck, the chin…
He felt impatience, and he grinned. Showed him what teasing felt like.
The duelist finally gave in and placed a full kiss on the other's mouth, feeling it move under his own as they kissed softly for a few minutes.
It was soon forgotten as he sucked the bottom lip of his lover into his mouth and looked at the other's face intently as he growled, eyes shut tight and a lot more relaxed then before.
He quietly slipped his tongue into the other's mouth, passing over the teeth and gums before finally nudging playfully at the other's tongue, wrapping around it and coaxing him to play along.
They gently battled for dominance, the brunette giving in more than pushing away and vice versa.
It ended quickly and Jou took full control, sighing happily at the new sensation of complete power. He understood why Kaiba loved topping now. It was really addicting, the fight for dominance and winning it.
He separated from the brunette and started kissing slowly down his collarbone, pushing him down gently until he was leaning over the now laid-out CEO. Quietly nipping at the skin there, he let his hands play over the other's stomach until one hand brushed over a pert nipple and caused a sigh from the blue-eyed teen.
"Seto…" He drawled out the name and licked a path to the ear, gently biting it before whispering. "How's it so far?"
There was no response for a split second, and then Kaiba's voice, breathless and wanting. "Good, Jou-pup."
"Jou-pup?" He gave a playful nip to the pale boy's neck and received a small moan in return for it. He laughed. "Am I acting like a puppy, Se-to?"
"Nn…" He had snaked a hand down to rub against Kaiba's quickly hardening member through his pants, and smirked. Kaiba, loss of words? That usually didn't go into the same sentence together.
He sat back up and rocked slowly, smirking again when a louder moan came from Kaiba's mouth. His smirk slowly faded as he took in the sight before him, appreciating it to the finest detail.
For one, there was a glistening of saliva on Kaiba's chin, and his eyes were half-lidded in pleasure. His mouth was open in short bursts of breathe, and his neck was red from the biting. The one thing he could really appreciate, though, was Seto's skin. It was milky white and stretched before him, shining with a light sheen of sweat.
Shit. Did he look like this to Seto when they did this? So… Fuckable?
He leaned down and gently bit the brunette's bottom lip, receiving a low growl in response. "Nah uh, Seto. You have to be all uke-ish for me today."
No response, and he liked to think it was because Kaiba was too out of breathe to speak. He grinned. Seto and out of breathe weren't things you usually saw together, either.
He beckoned Seto to move up the bed so that they'd be lying vertically on it, and he gave a quick kiss to Seto's collarbone before making his way downwards with bites and harsh kisses, pausing when he got to one nipple to gently nip at it while his other hand brushed against the other.
The blonde stopped when Kaiba moaned again and he continued down again, delving his tongue into the belly button before coming to rest on the prize.
He smirked before mouthing the erection through the fabric, and Seto bucked his hips up, crying out.
"You like that, do you?" He muttered to himself, licking the heavy fabric and receiving a keeling moan in response. Mouthed the fabric again and got bucking hips. He grinned. Never knew Kaiba was that sensitive to a dominant cock-sucker.
He held down his hips as he undid the button of the pants with the other hand and licked the fine hair leading under the fabric, grinning when Kaiba's cock was shown. He pushed off the rest of the pants, letting Kaiba kick the little remainder before grinning even more widely then before.
And then he deep-throated the brunette.
The response was instant, and he had to grab the young CEO's hips to keep him from thrusting up wildly at the contact. He slowly licked up the shaft, pausing in his ministrations to look up. To see that Kaiba was staring at him with half-lidded eyes that just screamed 'Sex!'. He smirked silently in response, moving his head slightly and licking the tip before taking him whole and sucking all the way down to the hilt.
A low keeling moan from above and he took one hand off of a hip cautiously, bringing it down to trace the balls lightly and thinking silently as he continued to move his head in a nonexistent rhythm. What did Kaiba usually do with his hands besides a fantastic hand job?
He swirled his tongue around the tip and then remembered. Prepping.
Slowly, he teased the entrance of Kaiba's with his forefinger, pushing it in slightly as he sucked lightly on the side of the erection. Getting no response, he slowly pushed the finger inside. The blonde almost moaned himself when he felt the heat of his one finger being inside Kaiba.
Shit. Is that what it felt like?
He sucked silently on the tip again before looking up and seeing Kaiba lost in the pleasure of it. He smirked.
He added a second finger, and that was when he got a response of some kind.
Seto squirmed slightly before groaning loudly, closing his eyes. "Ah… Jou…"
Oh, shit! Kaiba was coming! What did Seto usually do when he was gonna climax before it was wanted?
Without thinking, he grabbed the base of the hardened member and squeezed, causing the brunette to whimper at the loss of the sensation.
The blonde sighed mentally, and without thought, added a third finger. Kaiba wasn't going to come yet. Which was a good thing. While, until he was through with him. And, fuck, the guy could take a lot of pain. He'd usually be still for a minute or so after three fingers.
He quickly sucked up his cock before letting it go, causing another growl to come from the brunette.
"You can't complain, Seto. You're enjoying this too much." He laughed at the haphazard glare he received, stretching out his arm to open the drawer on the bed side table and retrieving the lube.
He smirked at the slightly embarrassed look on the brunette's face as he spotted what Jou held in his hand. The blonde spoke, voice slightly amused, after he had uncapped it, squeezing a generous amount on his fingers before unzipping his own pants and slathering some on his own hard cock. "Don't worry, Seto; It doesn't hurt after a few seconds, and you have a high pain tolerance, right?"
The brunette nodded and he positioned himself at the other's entrance, smiling for a second. "Ready?"
The young CEO nodded and the blonde took that as his cue to go. Slowly, he pushed himself in, watching for any signs of discomfort in his lover. When he only got some squirming and then a light nod for the go-ahead, he pulled back out and went in again slowly.
The brunette arched slightly this time, and Jou kissed his stomach before moving again.
He began a slow rhythm that gradually grew faster the more Seto moaned, and he gave a low, keeling moan of his own when he started going a bit faster every few seconds.
The bed began to rock slowly as they quickened their pace, and both of them moaned loudly as Jou hit a particular sensitive bundle of nerves.
The blonde smirked as the brunette through his head back, and he stopped for a split second, starting the rhythm they had began with and hitting the bundle of nerves each time. A low growl, and he laughed lightly. "Say my name then, Seto, just like I say yours."
Wow. He could speak in the heat of the moment.
"Jou…" That snapped him out of his solo thought and he sped up, practically grinding their hips together in the process.
"Jou…" He shut his eyes tightly in the pure ecstasy of hearing his name said like that, being said like that. He had never heard Kaiba say it like that…
"Jou!" The brunette began a small chant, saying the one name under his breathe over and over as said blonde slammed into him. "Jou, Jou, Jou, Jou!"
He arched forward as he felt his own climax coming, practically gasping out the next sentence. "Seto, I'm coming…!"
"…Jou!" His name started getting louder on the other's lips, and the blonde knew the other's climax was coming too. He felt the hot heat tightening around him, and he gasped out before practically screaming (at the exact same time Kaiba did) the other's name.
He held himself up for a split second before collapsing on the other, pressing his cheek against the sweaty chest and sighing.
"That was…"
"…"
"Holy shit."
They lay in silence for a few more seconds before he sat up and pulled himself out, frowning when he realized he still had his jeans halfway on.
He shrugged, quickly kicking them off the side of the bed and then laying down beside the brunette.
"…Now I can understand why you're such a domination-freak."
"I can understand why you like being bottom."
"…We should do that more often. You know, me being the top, you being bottom…"
"Just… Shut up, Puppy. Go to sleep."
He laughed as the brunette placed a kiss on his head and pulled the sheets up over them, snuggling closer to his lover's warmth.
"…I still say we should do that more often."
"I said shut up."
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O
"Jounouchi-kun, are you awake? Someone wants to question you."
He shut his eyes tighter against the intrusion of sound and turned over to bury the side of his face into his pillow, waving his hand away and forgetting momentarily what had happened. "Go away, m- Wait. What?"
The blonde flipped back over after he had comprehended what the nurse had said, and his eyes widened slightly. "Question? Who?"
"A woman claiming she's from an organization called 'Homes for the Heart'." The male nurse raised an eyebrow after looking Jou up and down, raising a hand offhandedly. "I'll just say that you need to dress. You should take care of your problem."
Problem…?
In the seconds after it Jou had realized what 'problem' meant, he had flipped over onto his stomach and tugged the sheet with the glaring stain with him. How was he hard again? Could people get hard after coming once? Why the fuck had he had that stupid dream in the first place!
He heard a laugh from the young-looking nurse, a pause, and then a weight as new sheets and a wet towel were thrown onto his bed. "Be careful of your IV, you better make a new bed while I distract them, and there's new clothes in there too. Throw all the other stuff in the bathtub."
And just like that, he was gone, leaving Jou with his embarrassed thoughts and stained sheets.
He lay in bed a few seconds more, letting his thoughts and feelings wash over him before getting up. He'd have to ask how'd he got to the hospital later, as well as why he had blacked out. Maybe it was heat stroke? Or…
A cringe as he stretched his side a little too much and he remembered. The fucking bullet wound. Fuck. Now everybody knew about it!
The young duelist sighed, ripping the bed sheets off and walking towards the bathroom, dragging his IV filled with his blood type along with him. Well, maybe people wouldn't really question him about it. He had always showed up with other various injuries before, like a cut-up arm (courtesy of playing one of the gang's twisted games), or bruises all over (from the gang-fights he had been in). It wouldn't be much different. They'd just think he had gone back to being in a gang. Or got jumped. Nothing different.
He threw the light green hospital gown he had on over his head and along with the rest of the sheets into the bathtub, and put on the other, plainer white one. As a second thought, he bent down and turned the cold water tap on, hoping to God that it would take the stain out before anyone else saw it. It worked with blood sometimes, so why not with his… 'substances'?
It could also help him get rid of his 'problem', as the nurse had so aptly called it.
Quickly putting his hands under the cold stream of water, he waited until his hands were ice cold before putting them on his aching member. He hissed as it came onto contact, but held on and thought of something other than sex.
After he had calmed down, he turned off the tap, frowning lightly as he remembered something the guy had said. 'Homes for the Heart'? Who was 'Homes for the Heart'? He hadn't even heard of such an 'organization' before. Was it like some adoption thing? Or…
It clicked in his mind and he swore loudly, slapping a hand over his mouth and biting the flesh lightly to resist the urge to curse more and attract attention to his room. 'Homes for the Heart' did sound like an adoption agency, but why would adoption agencies come to him? Another place that specialized in helping kids find 'homes' was foster care, wasn't it? And orphanages and things like that!
He dragged his IV over to the bed and started savagely whipping the sheets into place, trying to take out his anger on something so mundane. Fucking foster care was coming to get him. They were going to take him away. And then he'd lose everyone! And… fuck no, he wasn't going!
This time was as good a time to lie as any.
The brown-eyed blonde slipped under the slightly loose covers and waited, leaning back onto the pillows to get comfier.
He didn't have to wait long, because not even two minutes later the male nurse came again and stood to the side as two people walked in. One was a strict-looking lady with gray starting to show in her black hair and hard, glinting eyes (Jou thought she would've been an attractive older lady if she didn't look so mean.). The other one was a younger woman, looking around his age with a dyed blue streak in her blonde hair and looking rather… while, Jou couldn't think of anything else but the words 'Come near me and I'll make sure you know the meaning of beat-down'. Mean-bored looking. Or something.
He watched them both warily as they sat down in the chairs beside his bed, catching a face made from the nurse that was still in the room. He contained the laugh he had and put on his poker face for the two ladies. If they were going to try and make him uncomfortable or anything else, they wouldn't! Not him, fuck no!
"Jounouchi, I want you to meet Mea Tenako, the young woman your father sexually harassed."
…Well, shit. This was awkward.
At least he recognized the voice of the older woman. She was the one who had lied to him and said he only needed $2500 to get his father out of jail. The one who had called and said he might have to be picked up.
The blonde nodded after a second at the girl, who simply raised an eyebrow at him. "Sorry. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but it's probably not likewise."
He gave a cheeky grin at the shocked looks on both of their faces and continued, seemingly oblivious to the range of emotions showing on their faces. "So, what'd you come here for? Coming to force me to live in someone-whom-I-do-not-know's house? Or am I charged for something I didn't do?"
The aging woman seemed to get over her shock before she spoke, voice both sour and business-like at the same time. "Jounouchi-kun, I'd advise you to be nice to this woman here! She's considering dropping the charges against your father."
What?
… Oh shit.
He mentally berated himself as the girl gave him a funny smile, one that really reminded him of Kaiba in the sense that they both thought they were above him. Why did he have to go and practically insult her, and be so rude! Why! Where were his good manners!
The woman spoke again as he killed himself inside, voice calmer than it had been before. Probably from knocking Jou down a few pegs. "I'd also like to know how you got the bullet wound you have in your side at the moment."
There was a warning underlying her tone, and he knew that if he said something about fighting, she'd most likely take him to a Home. He wasn't exactly fighting though, right? The guy had jumped him, not the other way! And self defense was valid as not fighting!
He doubted she'd care if it was self defense. Thank God for white lies.
"I was walking to my house at 5 in the morning because I was just going to clean up the place, right, and I had to work off my room and board at a friend's house later, right? And take in the mail, stuff like that." Lying was easy. Very, very easy. Maybe he should have left out the part about working off room-and-board, though. "And then, when I was almost home, this guy came out of the alley. I didn't see him until he pushed the gun to my back and demanded that I give him my shirt and jacket and money."
Resist the urge to swear and keep the accent out again, he told himself. "I said I wouldn't, because people don't usually carry fully loaded guns, ya know? So I kind of moved, just a little…"
He squeezed his thumb and forefinger close together and left a space in between to prove his point. "And the guy shot me. Good thing I had moved, because it would have gotten me right in the back. It only hit my side, though." He grinned brilliantly, as if he really was thankful to be alive and God was great, blah blah blah. Bullshit.
"Yes. Very." Her voice was cold and hard, and he knew she wished he had gotten shot. God. What a frigid bitch. "Jounouchi-kun, you'll know I'll have to check up on this with the people currently housing you, and talk about this with higher authorities to make sure you aren't currently in a gang?"
"Yeah, I know." He knew that she would suspect it was a gang fight.
"And if it was a gang, you'll be taken away to another city to live. You know this?"
"Yes." Knew it? It was fucking obvious! He wish he could yell at her and tell her that she was a fuckin-
"Alright. I'll live you alone with Tenako-san." Why'd she get a better honorific? And leaving him alone with her? She'd kill him! Or something! And blame it on him! "She requested to talk to you. Alone."
The older woman looked at the other and nodded slightly. "I'll be back in 5 minutes to drive you home, alright? I have to figure out when Jounouchi-kun came here."
The young girl nodded. "Ok. Thank you, Benachi-san."
And then the woman (and the male nurse) left, and he suddenly felt as if the tension in the room had heightened somewhat. That was until the girl spoke, slumping down and sighing. "God, what a bitch."
"Yeah… What? Huh?" Did she just call 'Benachi-san' a bitch!
A quiet giggle came from the girl, and he couldn't help but grin (albeit a little nervously). "Surprised, huh?"
Hey! She even had a slight accent. Kind of like his. What…?
Before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and blurted out something that might have been considered rude. "Are you even Japanese?"
She blinked and laughed this time, the sound deep and booming compared to a 'normal' girl's voice. He couldn't help but stare at the weird girl. Was she English? American? Maybe that was why she was so odd.
"No, I'm not even Japanese. I wish." She had a slightly wistful tone as she said this, but it was replaced by her normal voice as she spoke again. "I'm from America. Washington, if you've ever heard of it. It's pretty big, ya know? But, anyway, yeah… I'm considerin' dropping the charges because… While, shit, you're kinda like me, you know?"
He continued to stare at the odd girl, who simply smiled and started twirling the piece of hair with the blue streak in it around her finger. Before he could even ask anymore, she spoke again. "Here, and back in America, I'm what people call a 'prostitute'."
The blonde almost choked when she said that. Prostitute?
"Not really, even…" She continued, still twirling the piece of hair. "I only have dates with very rich men, because those kind are only attracted to foreigners like me... I'm the 'young lady' that men cheat on their wives with…"
He nodded absent-mindedly, wondering if she thought he was American. He brushed it off as she gulped down a small bottle of water he only noticed she had now.
"Anyway…" She put the drink back into her the hood of her bunny-hug (which was probably where she had gotten it from). "You grew up on the 'wrong side' of the tracks' too, right?" He nodded. "And money is hard to come by… And, anyway, yer dad didn't really molest me. I'm used to that kind of treatment."
"Actually…" She began to blush, rubbing a hand on her cheek as if to wipe it away. "The supposed boyfriend I was going to be meeting was really a rich boi that was paying me to look like his girlfriend in front of a lot of friends, with benefits on the side, of course. He hadn't even been there the day yer dad came to me and did that stuff."
He blinked. So that meant that she hadn't been meeting her boyfriend? Why was she in the back alley then? This was getting fucked up.
She seemed to sense his confusion and scowled slightly, tugging on that one hair. "I was trying to get some drugs, ok? I'm a dealer as well as a pro-pro… Pro-prostitute… Whatever you call it. So…"
There was silence, where Jou was trying to figure out why she told him all of this and while she waited for him to figure it out. 3 minutes passed with his slow thinking and she sighed, apparently giving up on him.
"Look, I just don't want to bring another street-brother down. It's gonna be hell just paying for the one charge that's still being pressed down on ya, ya know? So I'll drop it, because I know how hard it is to bail people outta jail." She smiled at him. "Ok? And… I dun know if I should really be doin' this, but… You have a job, right? A 'good' job?"
He nodded excitedly, trying to quell the feeling of happiness growing in his stomach. She was dropping charges!
"… Well, since I'm well-off enough, ya know, living in the middle-ground town… I was thinking I could use some of my money to help you out, and in exchange, you come clean up my apartment… It's a lot messy, and… well, shit, I need a cleaner…"
…And offering him a job!
In a split second, he had pulled her up and was grasping her in a bear hug, smile shining brilliantly on his face as he let her go and twirled her around. "Holy shit, thank you! Fucking thank you! You have no clue how much this fucking means to me!"
Both of them laughed, him hugging her and her grinning as widely as he. They hugged each other until they heard the stern voice of the woman that had come to make Jou's life a living hell coming from down the hall.
They both let go quickly and sat down professionally, as if they both knew that they had to act as if they had had a serious talk instead of having a small celebration. A quick smile from both of them before the nurse walked into the room with the older woman closely following, looking slightly flustered and angry.
"Tenako-san, I must leave now. Please say your goodbyes."
She nodded, again looking bored and mean. "Fine. Jounouchi-kun, I'll get the number of where you're staying from Benachi-san and talk to you further about the charges, alright?"
She gave him a brief, tight-lipped smile, but the emotions in her eyes told differently. He grinned inwardly, thinking what they might have been both wanting to say to each other. 'Put on a play for the aging bitch, right?'
"Alright, Tenako-chan. Talk to you later." He nodded and tried not to grin.
When they left, he let out a little laugh and almost jumped through the air at the same time when the nurse spoke, a little smirk on his face as he checked the IV bag. "Nice getting along, then?"
"Fuck yeah." He grinned again, not minding his own swearing and reminiscing about the short conversation with the girl. Shit, she was cool! Kind of like… Well, yeah, a sister. Sister from a different mister!
He quietly snickered to himself while the brunette man checked the rest of the things that needed to be checked and made sure the needles were in tightly before looking at him. "Oh, and you should really thank the brunette guy that came in and dropped you off. You were bleeding like crazy. Got blood all over the school uniform."
Jou looked at him weirdly. Honda? Honda had done that for him? Maybe he'd forgive the guy later. "Oh? Really? Damn, I'll thank the guy later. Thanks, man."
The other guy grinned back, standing straight and flashing him a smile. "Alright, everything is in order. The real-real nurse will be here in a few minutes."
Before Jou could speak or yell at him for impersonating a professional nurse, he cut him off breezily. "I'm just an intern. A nice intern. I'll say you vomited a little on the sheets."
The blonde glared at the intern and almost made a snappy comment before he remembered what the 'vomit' really was, and what the guy was gonna do for him. "Ah… Thanks."
"No problem." Another flashing grin. "Seeya around, Jounouchi Katsuya!"
And for the third time that day, Jou was left alone with only his thoughts as company. This time though, they weren't angry. He grinned. He had also meet two new people today, and had forgiven one for heroic reasons. The nurse intern guy and Mea Tenako, and Honda playing the hero that had saved him. That was enough to forgive anyone, right? Saving your life?
He lay back into his pillows and sighed happily. Things were OK today, even counting the black out. At least he had a valid reason for missing school. He'd think about the 'depressing things' later. Like his dad and everything else and Seto Kaiba and the like.
He closed his eyes. Yeah. That stuff would wait until later.
Monday was a good day.
O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O.O-TBC
So ends another chapter of When All Else Fails.
For… Any questions, review?
Oh, and the girl? She was a woman-Jou, with a few tweaks XD. So… Yeah.
Review if you hate it, review if you love it, how about you just review it? XD! Thanks, and I PROMISE AN UPDATE SOON!