A/N: Thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome! Here's the next chapter!

Step 2: Casual Touches Are the Key!

At first, Seto believed that having the mutt teach him the finer things of dating was almost hilarious...

...until it actually worked.

The flirting went well between him and Freya, almost so well that he could almost swear to Ra that she was comfortable enough to stroke his hand gently.

Big mistake.

He withdrew his hand quickly, but politely, almost glaring at her for the fact that she invaded his personal space without his permission. That was a bit of a problem for him. Aside from Mokuba, no one had ever gotten close enough for physical contact and he preferred it that way. He had no time for love or affection from any stranger.

Then again, as he looked back the last couple of days, Jou had no trouble having his way around the elusive CEO: messing his hair in the morning when Seto refused to acknowledge him, poking him in the ribs whenever he disagreed with something, making himself at home behind Seto while he worked and occasionally looking over his shoulder to see what was he doing on the laptop.

Not to mention the fact that during the first lesson, the mutt had the guts to touch foreheads with him...Seto's body heat jumped a degree or two at the thought, leaving him feeling agitated in a strange way.

"Seto-san," Freya tilted her head like a little bird. "Did I do something wrong?"

Kaiba looked up from his musings and attempted a small smile. "Sorry...I'm not a very huggy person."

He was surprised to hear her giggle and he raised his eyebrow. "What?"

"That was cute. You said 'huggy'." Freya giggled behind her hand. "You are sweet."

'That makes two of you people...' Seto thought with contempt. No doubt he'll have to admit that Jou's techniques were working. It's on to Step 2.

Seto found Jou inside the CEO's private study and he was very sure he had locked it for that very reason: 'privacy'. How he got inside, he'll never know.

Jou was relaxing against a very soft couch, lounging away with a book over his head, unknown that Seto was watching him.

The mutt was dressed very comfortably: hip-hugger jeans and a stylish black band shirt that was slowly riding up as he sunk further in comfort. After seeing the light skin of the blond's abdomen peaking out to say 'HELLO SETO KAIBA!', he felt his face heating up in the worst way and he looked away.

'Damn it all,' Seto thought angrily. 'Stupid mutt. He looks like he came from a damn brothel.'

Then Jou did something unforgivable. Yawning slightly, he casually dropped his hand to his abdomen. But it didn't stop there.

Seto watched in utmost shock as the mutt's hand went lower, to rest at his crotch line, dwelling there for a good amount of time. He wasn't going to do what Seto thought he was going to do! He wanted to yell and complain at the inappropriateness of it all, but found himself unable to move at the sight.

That was when the CEO groaned and ran his head through his immaculate hair in agitation. He wasn't really that interested with Jou doing naughty things, was he?!

But he took an internal exhale when Jou reached into his pocket to pull out an iPod. Thank Ra.

Still...why did he feel like he missed out on something exciting...? He felt like an old pervert like his stepfather. He shivered at the thought.

Seto groaned again which caught Jou's attention. 'Don't think those trivial things, Seto Kaiba!'

"Hey, have a nice day doing the usual? You know, firing people with low income families just because they rubbed you the wrong way today?" Jou playfully taunted, fishing the headphones still embedded into his pocket.

"Ha, ha," Seto responded tartly. "Having fun mooching off me and enjoying the fact that you're a third-rate duelist?"

"Oooh, now you want to go there, do you?" Jou hopped off the couch to poke him the ribs, as usual. "At least I don't have an unhealthy obsession with Yugi."

Seto growled dangerously. "I DO NOT have an obsession with that half-pint!"

Jou characteristically rubbed his pinky-finger into his ear, annoying Seto even more. "I can't hear you over the inherent sexual denial pleas you have for my spiky-haired friend!"

"Damn mutt!" Seto felt the urge to strangle the peasant until Jou grabbed him by the wrists, looking at him with that same seriousness as their last session.

Seto felt the contact and his body heat rose again. He had no idea why he was acting so strange these past few days. And he wasn't so unresponsive to the mutt's touch. It didn't bother him so much like the others.

"Now that we're done with our little banter," Jou smirked. "Let's get move on to Step 2! Casual Touches Are the Key!"

"What the hell?" Seto muttered. "What's this going to pertain to, may I ask?" Though, he sort of guessed it.

He almost jumped with shock when Jou began to stroke around his fingers with his own, almost in a massage-like manner. Seto didn't know how bad his hands ached from the furious typing until his wrist muscles began to soften nicely with the circular movements of Jou's fingers.

It brought tingles up his spine and he was frightened at the feeling. "...what...?"

"You have a sort of peeve with physical contact," Jou looked at him with a gentle look. "I thought that we might get that fear out of the way if we're planning to keep up with your education." He let go of Seto's hands when he felt them shake. He knew his limits; Seto spent most of his life away from gentle touches and isolated himself from the world because of it.

Jou gave him another scrutinizing gaze before he held Seto's hands up, palms facing towards the blond. "When you've dated a girl long enough and she likes you, you're entitled to move the relationship along by casual contact. There are many types of casual touches. But we'll warm you up first." He placed his own palms against the quiet CEO's.

"You alright, Kaiba?" Jou asked carefully.

Only receiving a mechanic nod, Jou nodded back. "Okay, let's go further." He then interlaced his fingers gently with Seto's and the the brunet followed suit. "How's that?"

Seto didn't know what to say, because he didn't know how to describe it. Jou's hands were warm and a little coarse from years of manual labor, but it felt like it was the one feeling he was searching to touch for a long time. Ignoring it by reason that it was his first casual contact, he cleared his throat. "It's...it's fine."

"Oh. Good!" Jou grinned. "I thought your soul left you from shock because of a simple touch."

'Almost.' Seto thought as Jou dropped their hands. He almost began to miss the feeling of Jou's hands.

"Now," Jou led Seto back to the couch and they sat down cautiously, as if they were both hesitant about what had transpired a moment ago. "Like I said, there's many types of touches, most not even remotely sexual. It's to assure the girl that you are genuinely interested in her. I'll show you the simple hand touches first."

Jou cupped Seto's hand on his lap. "This is the first hand-holding. It's great for the movies where the two of you are seated next to you, or opposite at a cafe. It shows that she has your undivided attention. This..." He interlaced his fingers again on Seto's lap. "...is good for showing your affection and it's great for walking beside each other. It shows that you're comfortable to be around her."

Seto tried to remember all of it, but he was preoccupied with the warmth of Jou's hand. He almost wished that the mutt would dump the damn thing in a bucket of ice water so he couldn't be distracted by the heat of it.

He was so deep in thoughts, he almost missed Jou's next lesson. "What?"

"I said put your arm around my shoulders," Jou said casually. "This is a very important lesson in casual touches. It's when you fully accept the person into your personal space without being threatened."

"I'm not putting my arm around you!" Seto exclaimed. "My arms around another guy? Are you mad?"

"Imagine me as the Heiress for once, why don't you? Jeez." Jou defended in exasperation. "Do you want to get this over with or not? This will be your test. If you can't make me feel comfortable, you fail!"

Gritting his teeth in more of nervousness than irritation, he almost lost his nerve when he raised his arm over their heads and mechanically rested across Jou's shoulders, trying to keep as little contact as possible during the situation.

Jou could almost laugh from the sheer awkwardness of it all. Seto was trying his very best not to look at him all the while as rigid as a surfboard. Shaking his head in amusement, he decided to mess with the uncomfortable CEO by snuggling against his side as he recalled how Shizuka did to her boyfriend.

Seto almost jumped out of the couch when he felt Jou's head snuggling his shoulder languidly like a puppy. The contact was almost too much to bear.

"Well?" Jou demanded as he looked up at Seto. "Aren't you going to snuggle me back or not?"

"I'm not the snuggle type," Seto mock-glared. "And it seems you're having as much fun than I am at snuggling other men."

Jou's face lit up like a Christmas light and he barked back, "Hey! This is for your benefit, Kaiba! If you're not going to take this seriously then I quit!"

"Stupid mutt," Seto muttered grumpily as he grasped a hold of the shoulder he had wrapped around. "What the hell do I do now?"

"Make me feel comfortable, genius," Jou rolled his eyes.

"With my arm?"

"Duh. If you can't make me melt in your arms, you fail!"

"Damn it."

Remembering how he nearly felt like melting when Jou massaged his hands, he experimentally began to use his hand grasping Jou's shoulder and rubbed it up and down in a careful motion for a few minutes. Then, feeling a bit more bold, he slowly reached higher into the mass of golden hair and ran his fingers through it.

He looked to see the blond's expression and pleasingly found Jou's eyelids were down at half-mast. That was a good sign.

After a few more minutes, Seto was pleased to find Jou making almost purr-like sounds from his lips and unconsciously snuggled even deeper into the brunet's chest.

And then, Seto swore to the Gods, Jou burrowed his face beneath the CEO's chin, his purring noises growing even louder.

'I thought dogs wagged their tails, not purr...' Seto thought to himself almost chidingly. It became second nature, after awhile, and he began to alternate between stroking Jou's hair and rubbing his arm. He was extremely heated in his body, the way they were positioned against each other. If anyone were to come in unexpectedly, they'd probably get the wrong idea.

Jou was almost on Seto's lap, his hand clutching his dress shirt with his face against the older man's neck, breathing in his scent.

The heated breath against Seto's skin was almost overwhelming and Seto had the urge for his hands to search for more of that smooth, coarse skin that belonged to Jou. He had to stop his nerves from sending the messages needed to slide his hands up that cotton shirt and into more access of Jou's skin.

"Mutt...? Are you sleeping on me?" Seto replied after an ample amount of silence and was only responded with the interlocking of their free hands across their laps.

Seto almost began to purr as well, when Jou proceeded to massage his hand with his own after a while; slowly ebbing the tension and stiffness away and the brunet found himself almost being lulled into unconsciousness by this physical lullaby.

In fact, deep, deep, deep down, he felt that he could remain in that same position for the rest of his life if it was in his power.

"Nice...job...Kaiba," Jou muttered tiredly. "You get an A-"

"An A-?" Seto exclaimed, the injustice was very apparent. "I got you to go to sleep!"

His chest was on fire when he saw the sight of Jou's sweet smile against his neck as he began to fall asleep.

"Yeah, but you didn't put your hands inside my shirt." He smirked lecherously.

This shocked Kaiba to no end. Maybe it was because of the fact that maybe, just maybe, they were on the same wavelength as much as they originally believed.

A/N: Well, how was it? I was listening to Avenged Sevenfold's MIA song while writing this and the lullaby tune of it got me very warm and fuzzy inside. I like that when it happens.

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