A/N: I LIVE!!!I am SO addicted to tying neckties! And my friends keep on teasing me that I'd make a good wife someday. O.o; Haha! That was weird, because I usually thought that I'd be the worst! XD!

There is this weirdo dilemma thing... there's a dance contest at our village, and for some odd reason, I wanna join. But, I'm afraid... my friends don't even know I wanna join! -huff-

Anywho, back to those nice people who've reviewed me! Here's the next chapter! Sorry if it was uber late! n.n!
Warnings: Mild Cursing, Shounen Ai, OOC Tendencies
Disclaimer: Disclaiming all rights right now—aside from the promise…

Story Notes:

1) -.-.-Page Break-.-.-

2) There is NO romance between Yami and Jou! O.o;! Because I am weird and I like Kaiba acting like a denying lovesick idiot. Does that make me evil?

3) Flashback

"Always lying away from you."

Find Me

Lying From You

He lost.

He admitted it.

Kaiba Seto never admitted defeat—but in this case… why? It was really out of his character to submit to such feeling. The CEO was a top of the line proud guy! No matter how many times he has lost to a certain Pharaoh (which he still failed to believe), the brunet would somehow get back up and try again.

Which most have admired him for.

So then, why? And why now?

Kaiba continued typing. He didn't care about the lesson the teacher was currently giving them at the moment. He knew and everyone else knew that he could easily breeze through them. And Kaiba Corp. was pretty much the most important thing to him next to Mokuba.

Or so he thought.

For almost the umpteenth time, he caught himself glancing at Jou who fell asleep and at Yami who sat at the front row. And each time he glanced at the former Pharaoh, a certain flame burned within him. Not the flames of love. Not the flames of duel. Rather, the flames of anger and jealousy—of which the CEO seized to admit. What did he have to be envious for anyway? He was taller than Yami. He was richer. Smarter. Definitely better looking. But why does he feel affected for the times Jou chose to be closer to the midget?

"Hn."

Once again, he had glanced to his side—only finding Jou sound asleep. He was beautiful and had looked awfully peaceful, which was rare during the past few days.

The brunet didn't understand why everything had gone wrong. During the past years, from the Duelist Kingdom until that Egypt incident, the blond teen acted as if nothing happened between them. And now, at these very circumstances, the past just keep on coming back, rearing its head at the CEO. What did he ever do to deserve these?

If Kaiba could blame someone, he'd probably blame Gozaburo. But thing is, he had known very well that, that bastard of a stepfather knew nothing of his friendship with Jou—and if he did…

The CEO had winced at the thoughts, still eyeing the blond before him. Yet, as he continued to look at Jou, everything that seemed to have troubled him before had disappeared, due to the peaceful aura that surrounded the other teen in his sleep.

Kaiba, then, automatically reached out to the sleeping Jou, choosing to gently brush away the blond's bangs that had hovered over his face.

Now that he had noticed it, Kaiba came to a conclusion that Jou's facial features had not changed through time. He still had the same eyes, knows and mouth. The only thing that differed was the facial shape. He was still as angelic as ever.

Jounouchi was truly beautiful. Because of that thought, a small smile crept upon his icy face—one that wasn't obvious to anyone else.

Sad, though. The smile only lasted for a few seconds before it turned to a frown again.

The CEO often wondered what Jou's reaction was then. Was he sad? Was he angry? For Heaven's sake! He left…

"…Right after that promise." He whispered as he slowly pulled his hand away. "Of forever."

-.-.-

The blond child had stopped crying, yet still clung onto his friend. He didn't want to let go. Heck, he never wanted to let go. He was afraid.

A rare state that people would see Jou in.

A very rare state that only Seto witnessed, and he never wanted to see it ever again! Not ever! No more, because it hurt him too. His blue eyes shut tight—hugging Jou tighter than he ever did before.

"Set'," The blond sniffled. "I can't b—breathe…" With that, a giggle.

"S—sorry…!" Seto blushed as he saw Jou had giggled. "C—come on, let's get some ice—"

Just when the child brunet hurriedly walked ahead, a hand had decided to grab his wrist. Gripping it ever so tightly. In an instant Seto knew it was from Jou… it was sort of obvious anyway.

"Promise," Jou started to cry again. "Forever?"

There was no reply. Until…

Jou's brown eyes widened as he felt soft lips on his cheek—Seto had kissed him there… of course, this made the blond youth blush. And noticing the reaction, the other had slowly pulled a way, smiling at the stunned kid before him.

Seto gently pulled his wrist away from his friend, and had offered it to Jou. As a gesture for…

"Yep." He replied as he watched Jou curiously take the offered hand. "Forever."

"Forever and ever?"

An eager nod.

"Come on, Jou." Seto paused. "Let's get ice cream!"

"Okay!"

-.-.-

Right after that, the next day… Seto had a chess match with Gozaburo. Got adopted along with Mokuba. Leaving Jou without a goodbye. Became a Kaiba. Was raised into the cold Kaiba Seto. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Now if only it could've remained that way.

The bell had already rung for lunch. Everyone, even the sleeping-now-awake Jounouchi Katsuya, filed on out of the dreaded classroom, hurriedly meeting with friends or attending school meetings.

Either way, one thing was important… they were out for one hour.

Once the CEO finally walked past the crowd, he had spotted the blond. Jou was leaning onto the lockers, waiting.

And because of this, Kaiba's heart raced.

Adding to that, watching the blond teen bathe in yellow sunlight that emitted from the windows only made it much worse.

Not to mention, the throbbing pain that he felt when the midget and the other midget made him smile just before the CEO. Kaiba hated it. He hated the fact that the midget and the other midget greeted Jou—making him smile in the process.

Once upon a time, that smile was his.

Once upon a time, he lost that smile.

"Take good care of him." The brunet simply stated as he passed the trio. Honestly, he aimed it only for Yami to hear. But sadly, it was audible enough for the other two.

"Excuse me?" Yami questioned as his eyebrow rose, watching the tallest of them walk away.

Soon enough, the ex-Pharaoh's crimson eyes landed onto Jou who was visibly studying the floor. Almost as if that there was something interesting on it, aside from the cracks.

"So…" Jou started as he shifted to look at Yami and Yugi. "Up for cheesecake?"

Though the smile on the blond's face didn't falter, it was obvious that he had been bothered with what Kaiba stated earlier.

Yugi only looked onto his Yami, who merely nodded in return.

"Yeah! I'm up!" With that, Yugi pulled Jou into the cafeteria.

Now, only Yami was left standing in the hallway—if he was right, Kaiba must've been developing feelings for Jou all that while back. If he was right, but then… when was the Pharaoh ever wrong?

"Hurry up, Yami!"

"Coming." The tri-colored teen only smirked. 'Looks like Cousin and Jou are growing up…'

To Be Continued

A/N: Late update, check. Short chapter, check. People wanting to burn me… check…! Sorry if you didn't like it! I'm running plot less these days! Review, please!