Thanks so much to the people who reviewed the first chapter, especially those of you that have been reviewing me since way back when. Nice to know there are still people out there reading. YGO forevs, right? Might be slow updating but I swear there's more.

Chapter Two: All Saints

Jou looked dubiously up at the gates to the Kaiba mansion. The house itself wasn't even in sight here, down near the road, but there was a crowd of paparazzi waiting none the less to catch a glimpse of... Something. Anything.

Him, actually. The flashes were very distracting. If he hadn't been wearing his helmet, they'd have probably blinded him by now.

Jounouchi frowned and leaned on the handlebars of his bike. He wasn't about to take the black hunk of plastic off and identify himself to the crowd, but that also meant he couldn't wave at the security camera and get let inside. He hadn't really thought this through.

Well gee, there was a surprise. When did he ever think these things through?

Could paparazzi trace the licence plate on his motorcycle and discover his identity? Maybe that was a little paranoid. Maybe not, though.

Jou pulled out his cellphone. He could call Mokuba. He had the kid's number, but not a reason to be let inside the Kaiba compound. Er... Lost something last night?

Like his dignity?

His self-control?

His mind?

Yeah. Maybe all of the above. Jounouchi was spared the dilemma of what to do next, however, when he glanced up along the tree-lined avenue to see a black car with tinted windows driving towards him. Jou climbed off the bike and wheeled it to one side. The gates swung open without even the good graces to make the ominous creak he expected post-Halloween, and the car stopped next to him.

However, Jounouchi was not expecting the window to roll down to reveal his little sister.

"Shiz?" he croaked. "What are you...? Where did you...?"

Mokuba's head leaned into view, pushing Jounouchi's little sister out of the way – not before her face turned a colour of scarlet to outshine even her hair.

"Hiya, Jou! ...That is you under that helmet, isn't it?"

Jounouchi just growled in response. "...You!"

"Whatcha doin' out here?"

"What is MY SISTER doing in there?"

"Geez, keep it down. I was driving her home exactly to spare her this kind of walk of shame, but if you want to broadcast her identity to those guys – " Mokuba thumbed at the frantic crowd of photographers – "I guess that's your right as her embarrassing older bro."

Jounouchi felt his hands twitch. He closed his eyes. This was not happening. This was SO not happening.

"Shizuka?" he said tentatively.

She pushed Mokuba out of the way. God damn if she wasn't giving him her best puppy dog eyes ever. "Yes, onii-san?"

"What happened?"

She giggled nervously. "Oh. Well, uh... I mean, it was so sweet, Jou. Mokuba – "

"Yeah." Mokuba jostled for position at the window. "I set some zombies on Honda."

"You WHAT?" Jou screeched.

"Harry Potter, right?" said Mokuba. "Well, I really wanted a chance to talk to Shizuka here, and I knew I wasn't going to get it with that wizard so focused on using his wand."

Shizuka giggled.

"Don't you laugh!" Jounouchi was beginning to feel one massive headache coming on. He needed to think of something else. Stress relief. Peace. Quiet. A massage. Sex.

ARGH!

"You shouldn't even understand that type of joke! You're too sweet, remember?"

"She IS sweet." Mokuba wrapped an arm around Shizuka's shoulder. "Don't worry, Jou. I'll look after her. I'll make sure she gets home okay."

"You better."

"Want me to let you in?"

Jounouchi counted to ten mentally. "Yes, please."

"Don't get lost on the way up, now."

"I won't," Jou said through clenched teeth.

"Although if you do, security will probably find you pretty quickly After all, Jou... Just remember that there are even more cameras in there than there are out here."

Jounouchi felt a cold creeping feeling in his toes. The smile dropped off his face – at least they couldn't see that from behind the helmet. For the second time in twenty four hours, Jou was glad nobody could see the real him.

"Uh... Is that right?"

"Yes," Mokuba said. "That's right. Security cameras pretty much everywhere."

And then the little bastard winked.

Oh, fuck-knuckles. The brat knew. Before Jounouchi could think of what to say, Mokuba took the opportunity to put his window up. The car pulled out abruptly and the Kaiba gates opened again as it sped off down the road.

Jounouchi jumped into action, leaping back on to the back of his black and silver cycle. He revved it to life and zoomed onto Kaiba property, tree-lined driveway now flying by.

This. This sort of thing was why people hated being awake early on Sunday mornings, he was sure.

"Mr Kaiba?"

Kaiba finished his lap of the indoor pool before responding. What? Like he was going to stop mid-stroke and ask what was so important? No.

He touched the wall and stood up, brushing wet hair out of his face in a quick, masculine gesture.

"Yes?"

"You appear to have a visitor, Sir."

"Is that so?"

"... Uh, yes, Sir. That is... The other Mr Kaiba let him in a few moments ago but didn't contact us to identify the man. What should we do when he reaches the house?"

Clearly, people getting onto the property because they were actually allowed on it by a Kaiba brother was out of the realm of the collective imaginations in the security department. Of course, Kaiba wasn't paying them for creative thinking. He had armies of designers for that sort of thing.

"Let him in?"

"...Let him in?"

"Is there an echo in here? Yes, let him in, damn it. Is that all you wanted?"

"Yes, Sir. Your breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes, Sir."

"I didn't order breakfast."

"Er... Your brother ordered it for you, Sir."

Kaiba repressed a sigh. "All right. Thank you. You can go now," he added, pointedly.

Finally, Tanaka got the hint.

Kaiba dropped backwards into the water and closed his eyes. He tried to relax as he slowly sunk down to the bottom of the pool – not deep, since it was for laps. There was a diving pool outside.

So, Jounouchi was actually coming by, and early. Earlier than Kaiba had expected. Kaiba sighed and a mass of bubbles erupted. It was oddly satisfying.

All right, time to make himself get out of the water.

He was wrapping the towel around his waist when the far doors to the pool opened. Jounouchi leaned himself in the doorway, black motorcycle helmet in hand. He was radiating cool and calm like James Dean, in a pair of well-fitted blue jeans, a red t shirt and a black leather jacket. Guh.

"Little cold for swimming, ain't it?" Jounouchi said.

That, right there. Comments like that were exactly what kept Kaiba from giving this buffoon even an afterthought before now.

Kaiba opened his mouth to snap, "Not when your pool is inside," but managed to stop himself at the last second. Now, now. Have to play nice, don't we? Instead, he managed to say, "I swim every Sunday morning," though the tone was still scornful. Hell, some things you just can't change over night.

Joey raised his eyebrows. "Well sure, when you've got your own pool." He looked down at the water, seeming a little wistful. "I don't remember the last time I went to the beach."

Kaiba said nothing.

Jounouchi cleared his throat. "I think I took Shizuka to Kamakura about three years ago."

Kaiba found himself still unable to say anything. He wasn't used to thinking before he spoke. Good god, what if he didn't actually know how to have a real conversation any more? Hrmm. Well, when had he ever?

"Breakfast," Kaiba said.

"Huh?"

Kaiba folded his arms with impatience. "Breakfast. Do you eat it?"

"Oh. Ah, yes." Jounouchi gave a good ol' boy smile that had surely dissolved the willpower of a lot of women at some point or another.

"Of course you are," Kaiba said dryly. He didn't know that much about Jounouchi Katsuya, but that limited information generally pertained to duelling and food. Hadn't Jounouchi said he owned a pizza place? He also seemed to remember the idiot stuffing his mouth indecorously on more than one occasion.

"Join me?" he offered.

"Sure," Jounouchi said, just a fraction too quickly.

Kaiba was pleased to see that small touch of eagerness. He was, however, a little concerned that he and – must not say "the mutt" – Jounouchi were still on opposite sides of a swimming pool.

"Come this way. I'll change first if you don't mind."

Jounouchi walked into the room, the thick door sliding shut behind him. He was wearing canvas sneakers that squeaked a little on the wet, tiled floor, and Kaiba was suddenly aware of the humming of the filter and heating system. It matched a humming he could feel under his skin.

He was reminded of several horror films he couldn't quite place – Cat People? Jaws? It struck him as funny.

Suddenly Kaiba realised Jounouchi was nearly to him, and he turned to lead the way. Avoiding looking another person in the face? Ha. Of course not. Kaiba Seto, nerves of steel.

"How was the water?" Jounouchi asked him. "Other than 'not cold'," he added.

Kaiba spared a glance backwards and saw a trace of awkwardness on the other man's face. Glad to know he wasn't the only one bad at making conversation that wasn't fuelled by martinis. Maybe a coffee would help.

Another coffee. All right, technically, a third coffee.

"Relaxing," said Kaiba, after a moment. "I don't swim to – "

There was another squeak behind him and suddenly a body crashed into him, hands latched to his shoulders like he was an anchor. Kaiba found himself half-spun towards Jounouchi, whose legs were akimbo and whose face was red and getting redder.

"Sorry!" Jounouchi spluttered. He seemed unable to let go of Kaiba's shoulders because he hadn't quite regained his balance yet. "I slipped!"

Kaiba stared into his honey-brown eyes.

"Honest," Jounouchi said. "It wasn't some kind of cheap trick!" he added somewhat hotly. "...If that's what you're thinking."

The range of emotions passing over his face were almost comical. Kaiba looked at it with self-control that only years of being... well, being Seto Kaiba could teach.

Jounouchi looked down, apparently embarrassed at the near-angry outburst, now almost bashful, and his expression froze.

"Uh, sorry."

Jounouchi straightened and let go of Kaiba as though their skin burned when it touched.

That was the moment Kaiba knew Jounouchi's impromptu body slam had dislodged his big, luxurious towel, showing a clear expanse of muscled thigh right up to his left hip. Certain strategic areas were still covered – just.

Kaiba felt his left finger twitch. He forced himself to very, very slowly wrap the towel back into itself... Not flustered. No way in hell.

Oh, fuck it.

Kaiba turned away quickly. He pushed open the doors at the opposite end of the room from where Jounouchi had entered. "That way is the kitchen," he said. He pointed. At least his voice sounded cold. It felt he was on fire. "I will meet you there when I have some clothes on."

Yes, his voice might have been cold, but even he knew as he walked away that the exit line was deliberately teasing.

Kaiba stalked off in the opposite direction. It wasn't that he was embarrassed – what did he actually have to be embarrassed about? He was pretty sure – call it a hunch – that Jounouchi, as mortified as he'd looked for causing such a faux pas, had not been at all unhappy to see that much skin. Kaiba had to admit to himself that he wasn't embarrassed about showing it.

It was the surprise that did it. Not the surprise of having a gorgeous looking, tanned blonde in tight jeans come crashing into him. It was the surprise of the realisation – Kaiba was not only unabashed about being that close to Jounouchi while half-naked, he had to admit to himself that he hoped it would happen again, and there'd be no towels around at all.

He'd invited Jounouchi here, but that was last night. He'd lain awake all night half-tormented by memory snaps of their so-brief tryst at the party – tossed and turned in his big, empty bed thinking of Jounouchi's hands, his lips, his strangely moving outburst and the fact that Kaiba used to curse his name when he'd even bothered to think of the other boy at all.

That was last night. He thought today in the bright morning light of All Saints Day, those feelings would have departed.

Instead apparently the only thing that had left him was his big, beautiful brain.

Now that was painful to him. Thinking with his heart of any other body part was out of the question, wasn't it? No. It wasn't. And that, for Seto Kaiba, was truly embarrassing.

Jounouchi perched at the island in the centre of the massive kitchen, his fingers tapping on its marble countertop. There were three people buzzing around him. Two of them seemed to be cooking enough food to feed a third world country (yeah yeah, one of the smaller ones, but still) and the third seemed to exist just to follow in their wake and clean up the mess they left behind. Occasionally a puff of flour rose into the air for no reason that Jou could see.

He'd been there five minutes, and wasn't having much luck getting them to talk to him. He'd already asked what they were cooking. The cleaning boy seemed inclined to answer, but the fat one had given him a dirty look.

At least tapping his fingers kept him from stealing food. It was hard when there was such a freakin' mountain of it in front of him.

"Is this all just for breakfast?" he decided to try, next. Way to go, Jou. Keep up asking questions about the patently obvious and you'll be sure to win Kaiba's respect and adoration.

The fat one looked him up and down again. Jou wondered if he ate as much of the ingredients as went in the pan. The man was furiously stirring some kind of batter, and with every thrust of his arm it was like an earthquake rippled over the man's whole body.

"We just cook what we're told."

Jounouchi thought he'd try a different tactic. "I'm a cook," he offered.

The third one – the only girl, and a rather good looking one, looked at him with wide eyes.

"You are?"

"Well, yeah. I took a few Italian food courses. Can't do much other than that, though."

"You're not here for a job, are you?" she blurted, and the fat man promptly hit her in the head with his batter-covered wooden spoon, then threw it into the sink.

"What he's here for is none of our business until we're told what our business is!"

The girl blinked once or twice, and then reached up to touch the sticky, caramel-coloured mess in her hair.

Jounouchi, meanwhile, had jumped out of his chair. "Hey, you don't gotta be a jerk about it," he said. "She was just bein' nice." And in his head he added, What crawled up your ass and died there? Seriously, what was with this guy?

Was Kaiba such a jack-ass that it rubbed off on everyone around here?

The girl and the kid exchanged a glance, and turned quickly back to whatever it was they were doing.

The fat man sighed. "Look," he said. "I don't know who you are, or why you're in my kitchen, but we get all kinds of people through here and until we know which kind you are, we're not being paid to be nice to you, or give you any information whatsoever."

Wait, wait, wait... Was this guy being... Protective? Okay. Well. Maybe that was understandable. Jounouchi edged back onto his seat.

"Right..." he said. He smiled brightly. "Mokie and his bro appreciate that, I guess. I'll just sit quiet. Smells good, by the way."

The fat cook had time to give Jou once more suspicious look before that brother walked in. Fat man kept stirring, but the girl and the kid immediately dropped what they were doing and stood still, facing Kaiba.

A little creepy.

"Yama," Kaiba said. "What in the hell are you making?"

"Everything Mokuba-san told us too, Sir."

"I see. Well, I think this will be sufficient."

Jounouchi suppressed a grin. Although he had oh so recently and very definitely seen for himself that Kaiba wasn't scrawny, that didn't mean he wasn't very lean and very tall. He looked like he lived on coffee and stress. Or maybe he just didn't have time to eat most days?

Kaiba looked at the island where Jou sat. It was, of course, covered with breakfast foods, from waffles and bacon to cereals to platters of fruit. Fat guy – Yama – now seemed to be dipping bread in his batter to make some kind of French toast.

"I really should finish this toast, Sir, or it'll just go to waste."

Kaiba sighed. "Fine. Finish it and take it with you. Unless...?" he looked askance at Jou.

"Uh, no," Jounouchi said. "I think I'm good."

"Don't think I don't know that the only reason you're making it is because it's your favourite, Yama."

The fat man simply winked and slapped his dripping bread down on a hot fry pan.

"Sasuke, Aya, you two can finish cleaning whatever you were doing and go." Kaiba said to the other two. "Drink?" he said to Jounouchi.

"Coffee, juice, water, iced coffee, iced – "

"Just whatever you're having."

Kaiba frowned but flicked the switch on an electric kettle. "Two coffees, then."

Had he just annoyed Kaiba by saying that? Geez. Maybe he was in over his head.

Head over heels.

Something like that.

By the time Kaiba had put the mug down in front of Jou, Yama had finally finished his frying.

"Anything else you need me for, boss?"

"No," Kaiba said. "I think you've done enough."

And Yama trundled off happily with a mountain of golden-brown toast.

"Makes a guy think twice about a second breakfast," Jou said, watching the bulk move out of the room. Crap. That was probably rude, him being Kaiba's chef and all. "Uh, I mean... Sorry," he said, lamely.

Kaiba smirked slightly. "I'm sure it won't put you off." Then he reached for the cereal.

"Seriously? Cornflakes? You've got all this, and you're going with cornflakes?" Jounouchi had already managed to get a forkful of bacon and three waffles onto his plate.

"Normally when they over-order, I send the extra supplies out to various shelters. Unfortunately, thanks to Mokuba's thoughtful instruction, all this is open now. And if I don't eat the cornflakes, he certainly won't."

Kaiba sounded both mildly pissed and mildly amused at his little brother's, er... charms.

Jounouchi blinked and looked down at his own plate, now significantly more full with the addition of strawberries and a spoonful of scrambled eggs. "Uh..."

Kaiba snorted. "Oh, come on. Eat whatever you like... Jounouchi. Don't be so eager to please."

Jou stared.

"I'm sure Mokuba just ordered this to impress whatever girl he had here last night, anyway."

Then Jounouchi's left eye twitched a little, and he said a very loud, "Well, all right then!" and started to eat.

Do not think about THAT. Anyway, he didn't know whether to be more confused by Kaiba's self-suffering noble streak, the way Kaiba already seemed pissy with him, or the fact that he'd just been called by his name. By Seto Kaiba. Had that ever happened before?

This confusion didn't help him. Jou was starting to feel like he needed to say something smart. Something that would impress Kaiba. Something more meaningful than all the showboating and flirting he'd done last night.

It wasn't that he was desperate to be liked. It was just that he liked Kaiba desperately.

Oh hell, liked wasn't even the word. This was so effing messed up. How was he supposed to please someone who clearly didn't want to be pleased? Maybe the answer was that he shouldn't even try. Maybe he and Kaiba weren't destined to just... get along.

Then Jou realised they were eating in silence and heard himself say, "Well, this is weird."

Oh. Great. Bigmouth.

"Frankly, it is," Kaiba replied.

Double great. Triple great. Quadruple freakin' great.

"Well..." Jou laughed, nervously. "I keep getting the urge to apologise, but I'm not gonna because actually, I'm not sorry at all."

"Good," Kaiba said.

Jou gave a little cheer inside. Then Kaiba looked him square in the face.

Oh god Jou hoped he didn't have maple syrup on his chin.

"Look," he said. "I don't do well with people. I'm not an easy person to be around. Above all I don't suffer fools."

Jounouchi felt the hair on his neck start to rise – call it old instinct, but he could feel an insult coming on and he wasn't about to sit there and wait for it. "Okay," he said, "I don't – "

"Shut up for a moment," Kaiba said. Not exactly a good thing to say, because although Kaiba was used to being listened to, Jounouchi was not used to listening.

"'Shut up'?" Jou repeated. Very loudly.

Jou watched as Kaiba shut his eyes. "I meant to say," Kaiba said through clenched teeth, "Listen for a moment."

Wow. It felt like there was almost the word PLEASE in that sentence. Jou forced himself to sit still, as Kaiba seemed to be exerting near super-human effort to be civil. That was definitely new.

"Sorry," Jou said, though it came out sounding more like a sarcastic growl than anything else. He cleared his throat, trying to sound more upbeat. "Go on."

Kaiba exhaled softly. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm not very good at being nice to people, and it's always been particularly difficult to be nice to you. Well, to be clear, it's always been particularly easy to be rude to you."

Jounouchi stared, more than a little dumbfounded. Kaiba was acting like he was making an apology, but all that was coming out of his was big fat jackassery.

"Last night... I've had some wild confessions before, but..." he trailed off.

"But what?" Jounouchi snapped. He just about couldn't stand it. He thought – he hoped that – Kaiba was trying to be nice – possibly a sentence that had never, ever been thought by anyone before – and he still felt like he was about to get stepped on. There was an anxious feeling from his fingertips to his toes.

Breakfast in the kitchen, honestly. What a stupidly intimate way to try to get to know someone. He should have just waited until the afternoon. Idiot, idiot. Idiot.

"But none of them have ever..." Kaiba gritted his teeth. He looked like he was in the middle of getting one of them pulled, god damn it.

Yes? Yes, what? WHAT? Just spit it out, Jounouchi wanted to say, c'mon I can take it! Nothing you can say can hurt me really, ha ha, you big jackass, I was just being drunk and melodramatic. It's fine. Do your worst. It doesn't matter if you still hate me.

Except god, it did.

"None of them have ever made me feel the way yours did."

Jounouchi thought that if he'd been the one to say that in the cold sober morning, he'd probably be staring into his bowl of cereal, bright red and embarrassed and afraid to see the response.

Not Kaiba. Kaiba was staring directly at him, defiant, almost daring Jounouchi to react the wrong way, to repay Kaiba's clearly painful honesty with rejection or mockery. There was something in the tilt of his chin that made Kaiba bold where others would have been shy – defiant when they would have been embarrassed. Whereas Jounouchi was prone to bursting out his feelings when and as they occurred to him, Kaiba was laying them all down as facts.

And the fact of the matter was, Jounouchi just couldn't stop from leaning into Kaiba and kissing him.

For just one moment, the moment of Jounouchi's fear of rejection, it was a soft kiss. Then in the next second Kaiba had his hand on Jounouchi's neck, pulling him closer, and Jou was practically trying to eat the other man from the mouth down. Somewhere, like a sound in a room that was far away, Jou heard a clattering of plates. And one more moment later, he was pretty sure that his elbow was in some cereal.

He so didn't care.

AN: When Kaiba says, "Breakfast. Do you eat it?" ... The line wasn't supposed to come out like that. But I just couldn't resist. Because all I could think of was Samuel L Jackon: "English, motherf*****r. Do you speak it?" Ha!