Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Warnings: Shounen-ai; BL; slash; boy x boy; homosexual relationships; yaoi, SetoJou; Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya, a shitty artist attempting to write, may be OOC, and spoilers up to the end of the series.
Notes: Please read the notes from the previous chapters as well (if you haven't already done so) as they still apply for this chapter.
I should explain how I'm portraying Kaiba just in case. I hope Kaiba isn't too odd to people who are reading this so far because he finds chasing after Katsuya impossible. I believe that Kaiba is a man who would go after the things he wants. What he wants he will go and do whatever it takes to get. However, I don't believe he is someone who is stupid enough to go for things that he truly believes are impossible. There is no reason for him to believe that Jounouchi is gay. I am setting this story after the actual Duel Monsters series in which Jounouchi was never the type to appear as a man who was interested in other men. (Kaiba on the other hand ohohoho… him and his teasing ;D) Aside from hugging Yugi too much and being too close of a pal to Honda sometimes, he doesn't come off as a homosexual. (He's bisexual! Kaiba still has no reason to think he is this either though.)
Anyways, if Kaiba truly thinks of Jounouchi as a straight man, then why would he go after him? I doubt Kaiba would waste his time over a game of "Let's make Jounouchi gay"…which is almost impossible. Too many times have people in the past tried to change someone's sexuality and failed. Also, about wasting time, Kaiba has much more important things to pursue like his company goals than to waste time on trivial matters like love. He would just wait for it to fade.
Another thing is, such a relationship would probably bring a lot of trouble to his company and… something else I can't say yet because I would be spoiling… But there's another reason why Kaiba doesn't pursue Jounouchi crazily in my fanfic. He has far too many reasons against it than for it. He's logical and business savvy; he would choose the "better" path.
I hope I'm making sense… and I hope you're not all protesting thinking it's all wrong and dumb and I have Kaiba all wrong. ;.; Sorry. (More explanation on why my story is structured the way it is in the next chapter.)
The next thing I want to explain is Jounouchi's home. I'm not sure if he lives in an apartment or a house. Most people favour apartment in their fics and he is only living with his dad so I chose to put him in one of those. His house is not trashy and in the worst part of town though. It doesn't look like shit in the anime to me. Every time we saw parts of Jounouchi's house it was super neat and normal-looking. If he's supposed to live in a house, then let's say he just moved into an apartment with his dad some time. XD;…-cough- But an apartment seems to suit their father-and-son living style better.
The One Who Weaved An Illusion
It was 9:33pm on September 9th… A Tuesday. The seconds hand on the clock was ticking by a lot slower than usual. It has only been a week. A single chain of seven days. So why? Why did he miss him as much as he missed Mokuba?
He hated it. Hated Katsuya for it. It was absurd how something like a crush which was meant to spawn good feelings, bring out so much hate. Or maybe it was only him; he was always big on hate.
He gripped the arms of his chair and glared at his laptop screen. For a whole week, he had not seen Katsuya. But what was the big deal? He had been through this a lot longer in the past. The only difference now was that he didn't have a heap of Kaiba Land work to worry about and Mokuba wasn't with him… Fuck. This was stupid.
He stared at the clock again. 9:34pm. Great. Maybe he should just head to bed. He didn't even know how long this 'absence' that Katsuya was on would last. He had completed the plan for his infiltration on YamamotoCorp; the only thing left was to find a day to have it consummated.
Getting up and without turning his laptop off, he headed to his bathroom to prepare for bed.
It was ridiculous to miss someone just because you had not seen them for a week. If he had never bumped into Katsuya through his whole mission, would he be feeling the way he was now? He went through a year just fine. Mokuba and his work were everything he needed and everything that kept him busy.
He brushed his teeth well in gentle rotating motions without even thinking about it. He was used to being in deep thought during daily routines.
Katsuya wasn't absolutely necessary to his plan; he could carry it out himself, but having him around was advantageous, even if he didn't want to admit it.
He wanted to see him again. He shouldn't care whether Katsuya was done with whatever he had to do for the week. What mattered was his plan and getting rid of those sour feelings inside of him.
He dried his face with his towel and stared at himself in the mirror. There was no time to be idling around and waiting; he should carry out his plan immediately. Whether Katsuya liked it or not, he should just go and tell him about his arrangements rather than waiting for Katsuya to come to him. He also needed him to do a few things as well.
Seto opened the closet doors and looked at his clothes contemplatively. He finally decided on a simple blue dress shirt and black pants since he wasn't going to be out for long and changed into them.
Walking into the living room, he slipped into his jacket (the same one he laid over Katsuya a week ago). He was about to leave until his eyes met the phone.
Should he call first? He knew he personally preferred advance warning before someone stumbled into his face but he himself wasn't exactly the considerate type. However it would be beneficial for him to call beforehand. It would be a waste of time to make a trip to Katsuya's if for some reason he wasn't home or absolutely could not have guests over.
He looked up Katsuya's number on his laptop and then picked up the receiver to dial it. It took two rings before someone picked up.
"Hello?" Luckily it was Katsuya.
"Bonkotsu."
"Ka-Eh?" His voice was too loud over the phone. "Did something happen? Why are you calling?"
Maybe Katsuya didn't deserve advance notice. With that thought, he returned the receiver to its resting place. At least he knew Katsuya was home. But then again… He picked it up again and punched the redial button. It took two rings again before he received a response.
"Hello?"
"I'm coming over." That should be enough warning.
"What the hell was that just now?"
"Bye." He hung up. Katsuya didn't say he couldn't visit after all.
Grabbing the keys from his coffee table, he left the empty silent house.
"What the hell was that?" Katsuya rubbed the back of his head, confused. He turned his phone off and placed it back down. He should probably inform his father.
Katsuya had been extremely busy the entire week; hence he wasn't able to visit Seto. He had already told Seto about it and figured it wouldn't matter since most likely Seto wouldn't care. Shizuka was visiting soon so he had to force himself to finish watching 'Her Grace'. He had been cramming all 57 episodes whenever he could, leaving him with no spare time to do anything else when he wasn't at work. Shizuka would be upset if he didn't watch them when he said he would. He wouldn't want that. He would rather suffer through romance dramas. Hiroto was going to be visiting at the same time too and he also 'loved' these dramas as much as Shizuka did. Most likely Hiroto only watches them to score points with his sister. That bastard.
"Dad," he called out towards the living room. "There's going to be a friend over in a moment."
His dad only hollered an 'okay' as a response.
He normally didn't have people over. Hiroto really was the only one. His house wasn't cool or anything so when they usually hung out at someone's place they went to Yugi's. A game shop was definitely much cooler than his little apartment.
His father wasn't the best thing to show around either. He was usually drunk and sometimes he could get kind of angry. His father also loved to gamble. Katsuya always had to work to help support that little family they had. However, his dad has been improving tremendously recently; he had been trying to quit his horrible habits and become a better man. Katsuya played poker with his dad sometimes in hope it would be good enough to feed his gambling craves. It really wasn't but it was better than nothing.
The first time his father ever thought about changing was when Shizuka and his mother left them since his father was such a worthless man. He was drinking even more for a large period after the abandonment, but he eventually snapped out of it. He said something about 'not wanting that bitch look down on' him during his time of despair.
It was a slow process, but his dad stopped visiting casinos and gambling hangouts in shoddy areas. The alcohol addiction was harder to eliminate so they were still working on that one. Sometime during the year of Katsuya's senior year, his father was rushed into emergency at Domino Hospital; it was then when he was truly slapped into reality to face his alcohol addiction. The doctor informed them that if his father continued to drink in the amount he did, he may not be so lucky next time. He cried that time, telling Katsuya what a failure of a father, husband and man he was. Katsuya cried then too. His father had almost died.
Now, Katsuya's father was trying hard to be a better man. He was trying to pay off their accumulated debt with Katsuya and he was trying hard to make it up to his only son.
The annoying doorbell chime rang through the apartment and Katsuya got up from his bed and headed to the door. He wondered why Seto was visiting him so late. He had planned to go to bed soon and was ready for it too.
He unlocked the door and opened it. "Hey. What's up?" It was how he normally greeted Hiroto when he showed up at his door.
Seto wasn't sure what to say. "I wanted to inform you about some plans."
Just then, Katsuya's dad walked to the door.
"I thought it was going to be Honda." His dad smiled at Seto and Seto 'smiled' back. "Katsuya normally doesn't have other friends over."
Seto figured he probably should bow to Katsuya's father. He didn't want to but it would probably be extremely rude if he did not do so. So he bowed a bit. Damn cultural rules. He was used to people older than him bowing down to him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Seto said in his best Matsuo act. He could tell Katsuya was trying hard not to laugh. That puppy was going to regret it once they get to somewhere more secluded.
"It's nice to meet you too…er…"
"Matsuo," Katsuya finally said. It was probably better to not mention Matsuo's 'first name'. "Anyways we're going to my room now, dad."
His dad only gave Seto a final smile before returning to the living room as Katsuya led Seto into his room.
"I've never seen you bow to anyone," Katsuya said once the door was closed.
"I figured it was better to not offend your father."
Katsuya laughed. "Nah. Dad's laidback."
Well that explained a lot about Katsuya's behaviours and manners.
Katsuya's room was a typical room. It was small and held a lot of stuff, but everything was neatly organized. The bed was a simple twin sized one with a set of green and white plaid covers. There was a bookshelf that was stacked with not only books but binders and other junk. He had a work desk with a few framed photos, a lamp and, in Seto's opinion, an ugly computer. He should get a new computer, or at least one with a flat screen. There were a few posters of Duel Monsters plastered on the wall and some other little things around the room, sitting by the window and other places.
"Is there a safe place to be discussing things?" Seto asked as he was scanning the room.
"Well… Dad will be sleeping at 10:30 so I guess if we just waited…" He slept at that time too though since he had to get up early everyday. The only days where his sleeping schedule was different were on Fridays and Saturdays where he worked late at Amaranthine and ended up crashing the bed whenever he got home. He took naps before work too sometimes.
Seto looked at the alarm clock next to Katsuya's bed. It was already a little past ten. Good.
"Let's try not to argue this time. Dad will never sleep if we're yelling at each other and it probably won't get anywhere plan-wise," Katsuya suggested suddenly. He really didn't want to argue tonight. He was tired and didn't want to put up with any 'Kaiba-shit'.
Seto didn't say anything so Katsuya just assumed it was an 'okay'.
"So um... How was your day?" Katsuya rubbed the back of his head; he wasn't sure what they should do before his dad went to bed. He climbed onto his bed and leaned against the wall.
"Next topic."
"Uh… Oh! What's the special thing about your room? Mokuba said your room was special but he didn't explain why."
Seto had to think for a moment before responding. "If you're lucky, I'll show you one day."
"Okay…" Seto was really a conversation killer. "Wanna watch something?"
"Wouldn't that keep your father from sleeping?"
"Damn." He had a point. What could they do or talk about? He needed something… Something they had common interest in. "Duel Monsters!"
"What about that?"
"Let's talk about duel strategies or something." He grinned. He knew Seto loved Duel Monsters as much as he did.
Seto had to think for a moment again. He wasn't sure what kind of 'strategy' talk they can have. If they were to play a game then he could point out things that Katsuya was doing wrong or ways to improve… but why would he do that?
"However, let us walk a different path."
Seto sighed inwardly. Perhaps he could look at Katsuya's deck and help him improve it. Only because it was Katsuya…
"Give me your deck," Seto responded, looking serious like he always was. He didn't go through the whole deck last time at Amaranthine since he was pretty much looking for that one card.
Katsuya reached into the backpack on the floor by his bed and took his deck out. He patted a spot on his bed before handing Seto the deck, motioning him to sit on the bed with him.
"I'll just sit on this chair." So he did before flipping through the cards. But what he really wanted to do was to sit next to Katsuya like he offered.
The deck was pretty well built. It looked like Katsuya knew what he was doing. His deck had a lot of risky cards but also contained a lot of potential strategy. There were a few cards that he didn't exactly need but probably would come in handy in certain situations. Seto could think of a few cards that Katsuya should have in his deck if he really wanted it to improve; they would allow him to create even stronger combinations. They were pretty rare cards that would compliment his deck well so Katsuya probably doesn't have them in possession. Otherwise they would be in his deck. Of course, Katsuya's deck still can't defeat his powerful deck. Messenger of Peace might give him a rough time but there's no way his superior skills could lose to Katsuya. He smirked.
"What?" Katsuya blinked, confused why Seto suddenly smirked. His deck wasn't bad. At least he didn't think so.
Seto didn't answer him. "I don't think you need these three cards." He placed them on Katsuya's bed. "They're a bit outdated for strategy. You need to get a few more of the newer magic and trap cards to boost your deck. And if you can, I recommend getting 'Inferno Fire Blast' since you're still using your Red-Eyes."
It puzzled him why Katsuya chose to have so many pathetic looking monsters like the Landstars and Little-Winguard in his deck. He would only put the strong and fierce in his. Even his low levelled types had to be mighty. (1)
Katsuya nodded, a bit surprised that Seto was actually giving him feedback. "Thanks, man. 'Inferno Fire Blast' would be sweet if I could actually get that card."
"I could maybe write a list for you next time of some cards that you can consider adding to your deck since you're unable to construct your own strategies." He was being too friendly tonight.
"Shut up, Tatsuya." He was smiling when he said it though. He was really happy that 'The Great Kaiba Seto' actually wasted a few minutes of his time to look at his 'lowly deck'. It meant a lot when it came from Seto, even if the jerk had to be patronizing at the end of it all.
The sudden use of Matsuo's name startled Seto for a second. Katsuya had a smirk on his face and was trying hard not to burst out laughing since his dad was probably trying to get some sleep.
It was a mistake to have chosen that name. It was only chosen out of amusement that time. He should've called himself 'Fubuki' or something. (2)
Seto frowned. Suddenly deciding that being nicer to Katsuya was a bad idea. At least now Mokuba can't say he didn't try.
"Hey," Katsuya suddenly began, "do you like curry and rice?"
"No preference." It wasn't his style to ask why, especially in idle talk. Knowing Katsuya, he would probably explain it afterwards anyways.
"It's my favourite! I'll make some for you next time. It's my best dish too." He was getting hungry just thinking about it.
This made Seto feel strangely 'content'. However, he should probably get down to business, rather than dwell on foreign emotions. There were a few things he needed to ask Katsuya. First of all…
"When are you free?"
"Eh?" Katsuya blinked. "Well… I should be free after tomorrow… kind of."
He waited for Katsuya to elaborate.
"Shizuka is coming tomorrow so there are things I have to do. And I'm never exactly free. There's always something to do." He had to spend time with his father now. He never had to before. They somewhat ignored each other a lot in the past. Aside from the schoolwork when school was in and his paperboy job, the rest of his time was spent with his friends. He had other jobs in the past but his devotion to Duel Monsters didn't allow him to earn as much money as he did before to support himself through school and help out with their household bills and debts. His father's job was unstable but he was still hanging on. Like in every other area where his father used to fail in, he was improving a lot in his career too.
"First I need a date from you for dinner."
"For what?" He heard wrong, right?
"Dinner."
"Dinner?" Was this one of those 'Kaiba-code' things?
"I want to take you out for dinner, mutt. Was that easier to comprehend?" He crossed his arms and legs, getting impatient.
"Why? Is it related to…" He made a strange gesture, trying to indicate that he meant the mission. And quit with the stupid 'mutt' thing!
"I don't want to owe you anything. I'm repaying you for food."
"That's okay, man. I don't mind." He leaned forward from his bed and patted Seto's shoulder as he said that.
Seto looked at his shoulder and then glared at Katsuya. "Date."
"We're going on a date?" Katsuya joked.
Seto only continued to glare. He liked the sound of 'date' though.
"Okay, okay. I don't think I have much planned for the coming evenings but just in case…" Katsuya took out his agenda from his backpack. "The closest dates I have free are Thursday night and Sunday night… You can choose any day after that as long as it's not Friday or Saturday." His week gets booked up fast. Jin and Seiichi frequently asked him for his availability to hang out. Then there were house chores to do, days to spend with his father, days to see Shizuka, days to simply relax and then time to make calls to his old friends, and sometimes actually to see each other (they rarely hung out as a group now of course)… the list went on.
"Sunday 7:00pm. I'll borrow someone's car so we don't need to suffer."
Katsuya nodded and added it to his agenda. "Where are we going?"
"You'll see." Seto glanced at the clock. It was a little past eleven now. "Go check if your father is still awake."
"Just a sec." Katsuya climbed off his bed and stretched, yawning in the process. He was so goddamn tired now. "Do you need some water? I'm going to get some while I check on Dad."
After Seto nodded, Katsuya left the room.
"Here." He held the glass of water in front of Seto who accepted it without thanking him. "Dad's asleep."
"Good." Seto's tone became serious. "First, I need to know if 'you-know-who' has said anything to you. I need you to visit him again if he hasn't."
Katsuya climbed back onto his bed. "What? Didn't you get the note? I stuck it in your paper three days ago."
The CEO was silent for a moment. "You…" How can Katsuya treat a note of such importance like that? Anything can be easily lost that way. For the sake of getting things done and over with, he wasn't going to blow…if it was just a note from Mokuba.
That didn't sound good at all. Katsuya grabbed onto his pillow just in case.
"No. I didn't get it. Was it a note from 'you-know-who'?"
Katsuya nodded, still holding on to the pillow next to him.
"What did it say?" No one would understand a note from Mokuba so it was safe even if someone picked it up.
"Uh…" He was relieved that Seto didn't snap. Seto should've received it though. He stuck it in the business section. Maybe he should've taped it on. "I can't remember it exactly and I can't remember it in English for sure. It mentioned something about the Souichirou guy and something about 'disappearing'." Souichirou was a male Japanese stage actor in the mermaid story.
"'Imperishable Kingdom' you mean?"
"Yeah! That's it!" He was grinning again.
"Hmm. I'll have to look at that note. So far it doesn't sound very good…" He'll have to search for it once he gets back to his apartment. Good thing he normally doesn't throw out his recyclables until they pile up enough in his box.
"Hey. We should keep our voices very low. Like whispering-low." Katsuya peered outside his window. "People might hear us this late at night. These walls aren't very soundproof."
He nodded and began to speak softly, "I'm going to explain our plan. We're going to have to infiltrate Yamamoto-"
"I can't hear you. Just sit on the bed so you're closer."
Seto could tell Katsuya was growing more sleepy as he was blinking a lot more and slowly too. He climbed onto the bed and sat next to Katsuya without arguing this time.
"You need a new bed." It sunk a bit when he sat on it. It must feel like shit when slept on.
"Well, I'm sorry I don't have silky sheets like you do."
Seto's brow furrowed. "You went into my room?" His tone was dangerous.
Ah shit. Oh well... He shrugged it off. What was done was done. "Your pyjamas were cute."
Katsuya couldn't tell if Seto was slightly flushed because he was embarrassed, extremely angry or both. It looked more like he was angry though.
Seto's hands were made into fists. He couldn't believe it! Mokuba let Katsuya into his room and showed him that outfit? His pride!
"Hey, chill." Katsuya waved his hands in front of him. "If it makes you feel better…" He reached behind his giant pillow and pulled out an adorable stuffed bear plush. "Meet Takoyaki." (3)
Seto raised a brow. "You named a stuffed animal after food?" What was he doing?
"I didn't name it! Shizuka did! She loves that stuff." He grinned. "This is Shizuka's bear. I sleep next to it every night." He rubbed his eyes, which were getting heavier.
Seto was rendered speechless. Why was Katsuya degrading his pride like this? It did make him feel better though. Katsuya could've used that information against him. Even though Seto probably could ruin him before that could ever happen. Could he really do that to Katsuya though? Maybe being nice to him was just another attempt from Katsuya to fill up that friendship gap he was missing…
"It was the only thing she left behind…" He held the bear close and smiled gently. "When Mom took her away, she wouldn't let Shizuka take this bear. It was Shizuka's favourite but it was given to her from Dad, so naturally Mom didn't want to bring it with her."
Seto didn't respond. Instead he turned to stare out the window in Katsuya's room. He understood how it felt. He probably would've slept with the bear too if it was the only thing Mokuba left behind.
"So there. We're even now. We both know each other's embarrassing secret." He smiled and shifted over to sit right next to Seto.
Even if he didn't want to, his eyes were traveling over Katsuya. They were right next to each other…on a bed. "We're going to go infiltrate YamamotoCorp on Thursday night." Seto changed the subject.
"Night? What time?"
"Probably when it's dark out and everyone is completely gone. Probably best at midnight."
Katsuya didn't like the sound of that. He's going to be super tired if they went at midnight! He would have to readjust his schedule so he wouldn't be falling asleep during the wrong times.
"The security is simple. There are cameras everywhere but I will work on hacking into their system to deal with things like the cameras. Your job is to help us get into the building and through it."
Wow he actually gets to do something that isn't cooking dinner and paper clipping documents. He yawned.
"You mean picking locks?"
Seto nodded. "And some searching around."
That's so cool! Finally some action. His eyes were getting even heavier despite the excitement. Although the excitement was probably the only thing keeping him awake at the moment.
Seto looked directly forward as he continued to explain his plans. He had to or else he would keep staring at Katsuya, which was not a good idea. "The cameras auto delete every hour if nothing happens. If something does occur, for example, if an individual sauntered by one of them, it would erase everything except for that particular moment. The final video of the day would be a collection of things that happened. This way there wouldn't be huge gaps with nothing happening in their recordings."
Sounds so high-tech… Were his eyes closed? He wasn't too sure anymore. It was okay though, right? To close his eyes just for a bit…
"We will take advantage of the fact that it erases every hour. I will program them to erase everything, regardless if something happens, every hour. That way if there is a history log on the camera's activity, it would not look suspicious. The main problem is the cameras on each floor probably have different passwords on them, so I might have to program them as we go. There is tighter security in certain areas of the building which don't only have cameras so don't wander off too much."
Katsuya nodded slowly. He was so glad they didn't fight this time. Seto was speaking really softly and it felt so warm where he was. Really warm…
"The cameras inside are the least of our problems. The ones outside-" Seto stiffened when he felt something warm fall onto his shoulder lightly. He turned his head and found Katsuya leaning against him. The blond had fallen asleep, just when he started explaining the important part of the plan. He grumbled softly, unpleased that he wasn't able to finish explaining his plan. He was hovering between dislike and like over the uncomfortable feelings growing in the pit of his stomach.
His gaze fell lower and he sat there motionless, not moving even the slightest inch. Oddly, he didn't want to wake Katsuya up and desired things to remain this way. He watched Katsuya sleep, taking note of every detail. Katsuya's hair was really soft and felt nice brushing against his skin. His chest rose and dropped rhythmically and softly while his breathing was peaceful. His body looked limp since he was slightly slouching and his arms were dropped to his side. It looked uncomfortable to be in that position, just leaning against someone and the hard wall like that. He should probably position Katsuya on the mattress properly… maybe in thirty minutes. Actually he should just wake him up after thirty minutes since he had to return to his own apartment.
He wanted to rest his head on top of Katsuya's but was afraid it might wake him up. It was unlikely that Katsuya would wake up though, he tend to sleep like a log. He finally shifted so they were in a more comfortable position. He rested Katsuya against his chest and wrapped his arms around him. This was surprisingly nice.
He closed his eyes, drowning in this temporary bliss. This was probably the only way he would ever get to feel intimate with Katsuya—only when the other was unaware of it. The thought of this made everything feel even more stupid, but right now he wasn't going to care. Right now, he was only going to enshroud himself in this warmth.
If he never stumbled upon Katsuya throughout his mission and stayed in that apartment alone tonight, he probably would've missed him anyways. His thoughts would have carried him that way…
He opened his eyes slowly, feeling slightly like shit. Everything was dark, his head was bothering him and his back ached. He groaned and tried to get up but he couldn't yet, he needed to rest his back a bit. There was something heavy and warm on his chest too…even around his legs.
His eyes widened when he realized where he was and who he was with. He was lying on Katsuya's low-grade bed without a pillow and in an odd position, which explained his back pains. Katsuya had an arm over his chest and their legs were tangled. He couldn't believe he actually fell asleep with Katsuya in his arms on a piece of crap!
Wait. Who turned out the lights? Katsuya couldn't have woken up to do that simple action. Did his father…
Groaning again, he slowly turned to stare at the clock. Three in the morning? Katsuya was probably going to be up in two more hours or so. He tried to turn and look at Katsuya but he was nuzzling against his neck. He was probably a replacement for Takoyaki at the moment. Who would've thought that the puppy liked to snuggle?
It could've been worse, Katsuya could have been drooling. He slowly untangled their limbs and removed the arm over him. It wasn't like he tried to sleep next to Katsuya. He just fell asleep, like Katsuya continuously did all the time. He shook Katsuya, trying to wake him. He had to get out of there.
"Mmm…" was the only sound uttered out of Katsuya's mouth.
"Get up, Bonkotsu." Seto shook him a little more violently this time. Get up or I'll molest you.
Katsuya rubbed his eyes before opening them. "Sorry, did I fall asleep?"
"We both did." Seto got off the bed. "I think your father came in and turned off the lights."
Katsuya watched Seto's figure in the dark lazily, still not fully awake yet. "Oh. Sometimes Dad wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. He must've noticed my light was on."
That means he saw Seto holding Katsuya in his arms or sleeping cuddly close!
"I'm leaving now." He was about to leave the room but Katsuya grabbed onto his arm.
He yawned before speaking. "Just stay. By the time you get back you'll only sleep a little before having to wake up again."
"Then I'll go sleep on the couch." It probably felt better to sleep on than Katsuya's sack of springs.
"Dad's not going to like it if I let a guest sleep on the couch." He would go and sleep on the couch himself if he weren't so tired to the point that he was reluctant to move. "It's not going to kill ya to sleep next to me. You already did it for three hours; you might as well for two more." He squished himself against the wall on one side of the bed and placed Takoyaki on the pillow in the middle. It was a good thing his pillow was huge. "There. I won't touch you or look at you and Takoyaki will be our divider." He turned his back to Seto.
It wasn't the first time Katsuya slept next to another boy, so he didn't care that much right now since he was dead tired. The idea of sleeping next to Kaiba Seto was kind of creepy though. He had slept over at Yugi's a few times and they had to share a bed. He really didn't mind sleeping next to Yugi.
Seto climbed under the covers and positioned his back to Katsuya. He wouldn't be able to sleep like this; it was so uncomfortable. He probably only fell asleep earlier because he it felt really soothing to be holding Katsuya in his arms.
After about ten minutes, Seto was sure Katsuya was asleep, so he turned around to face him, only to meet Takoyaki. He glared at the bear before chucking it to the foot of the bed. Now if only Katsuya would roll over and face him. He moved a bit closer to his crush before finally closing his eyes.
Katsuya was wrapped up in his warm sheets, ignoring the alarm that was ringing insanely. He was still tired! He didn't want to get up yet. He pressed the snooze button and remained cuddled up in his bed. When the alarm went off again, he finally forced himself to sit up on his bed. Something was missing… but he couldn't place his finger on it. He rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up.
Oh yeah! Where was Seto? He was alone in his room. It wasn't a dream, right? Kind of creepy to dream about sharing a bed with Kaiba Seto of all people… But he doesn't recall letting Seto out of his home. He scratched the back of his head and yawned.
Just as Katsuya had yawned, the door to his bedroom opened. It was Seto who stood there silently.
"Mornin'." He yawned again. "Where'd you go?"
"Bathroom." He had his jacket on, all prepared to leave. "Open the door. I need to go."
Katsuya nodded and finally got up from his bed. He stretched before walking out of his room with Seto to the door.
"Your bed is a piece of shit."
"Yeah, yeah. Just shut up and go." He unlocked the door just when the doorbell's chime rang through the apartment.
Hiroto stood there with his finger still on the doorbell, surprised that the door opened so quickly.
"Eh?" What was Hiroto doing here? And so early too!
As if he had walked into something forbidden, Hiroto's eyes widened at the sight of Seto leaving the apartment. The two guests only nodded at each other before Seto left completely.
"Who was that?"
"Matsuo."
"Whoa! Isn't that the name of the creepy guy you mentioned about over the phone? Oh my god! Don't tell me y-you you!" Honda was pointing at Katsuya, shakily. "His sexy charm won you over didn't it? His advances persuaded you and now you two are-oh my god he stayed over and this is the morning after a long night of passionate-wow, Jounouchi. I didn't know you swung that way."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Katsuya grabbed Hiroto from behind and placed him into a headlock. "Stop watching those dramas! They're going to your head!"
Hiroto could only struggle and protest. "Le-Leggo! Air!"
The thought of sleeping with Seto of all people was disturbing to the core. Gah! Goosebumps! "It was nothing like you imagined!"
"Wh-what was it then?" Hiroto flailed.
"Just…He was just returning something. Then it got late so I asked him to just stay over. But we didn't do anything of that sort, got it?" Well it wasn't exactly a lie. Part of Seto's reason to be over was to set up a day so he could return the favour of those meals that Katsuya made for him.
Hiroto nodded dumbly, hoping Katsuya would let him go if he just agreed. And Katsuya finally released his hold.
"Why are you here anyways?" He closed the door behind them, hoping all that noise didn't wake his father up.
"To get you prepared, man!" He slung an arm across Katsuya's shoulder. "Shizuka's coming later today after all. I wanted to make sure you watched all of those episodes. If you didn't I can fill ya in," he whispered.
Hiroto knew. He knew that everyone except Katsuya's father was allowed to see Shizuka so he was keeping his voice low. His father always worked late on Wednesdays, so it was the best time for Shizuka to make trips.
Katsuya's mother agreed to move closer but forbade Shizuka from seeing her father. It was really unfair but if they didn't follow her selfish condition, Katsuya wouldn't be able to spend as much time as he was now with his sister. His father really loved Shizuka too… Everyone did. His parents both loved Shizuka more. She was always the cute and good one and Katsuya was always the bratty one who always got into trouble. Perhaps to his mother, Katsuya's father would always be the drunk, useless man who brought nothing but shame and trouble to the family and Katsuya was viewed as the son of that despicable man.
"You tell me that now? After I suffered 56 episodes? I just have one more left to watch today before she comes!" But he would've watched it even if Hiroto offered to give him summaries and key points. He couldn't lie to his sister like that.
"It was a good show wasn't it? Good ending too. It teaches us men how to really woo girls."
"Be super rich, hot, persistent and strangely romantic?"
"I don't mean the first two of course."
If Katsuya had to choose a favourite character in the show he'd probably choose the main male character, but only out of sympathy. He didn't understand why he always had to prove he loved her when she was the one who always misunderstood him and runs away crying.
"Anyways there's something else I have to tell you." He let go of Katsuya and his eyes became serious.
"What?"
"I quit my job."
"You serious? Why?"
"Because I missed you, man! I wanna hang out with my best bud more!" He had his arm over Katsuya's shoulder again.
"Seriously this time."
"The boss was a serious S.O.B." Hiroto frowned. "He was always harassing the female workers and I just got fed up. He had a short temper and was disrespectful. After sticking up for one of the co-workers, I handed my letter of resignation to him and left."
Katsuya smiled. "That bastard lost his best worker."
"Damn right." He grinned. "But that's okay. I've collected enough money to last me for a while. So now, I can actually spend more time with you and the others."
And force me to watch more dramas… He sighed inwardly.
"So what's up with you and Kaiba? Yugi said you've been mentioning him a lot lately."
"Nothing. He's imagining things."
"Mentioning him just once out of the blue is one too many times for you, you know?"
That was true.
"I was just trying to catch up. It doesn't mean anything weird."
Hiroto laughed and pulled Katsuya into a quick hug, something that almost never happens. He only did it when he was really worried about Katsuya.
"You have work so I'm going to go now. I'll see you later though, with her. I think she's bringing over someone special too."
"Someone special?" It better not be a boyfriend. He growled in his thoughts.
"Don't worry about it." Hiroto laughed again.
Yeah… Shizuka was allowed to make her own decisions.
"Big Brother!" Shizuka practically jumped on Katsuya when the door was opened. "I missed you!"
"Shizuka." He smiled brightly.
"There's someone I would like you to meet."
Katsuya was prepared for this; he was going to meet—
A little boy who appeared to be blushing popped up behind Shizuka.
—her boyfriend?
"Shi-Shizuka! Wha?" A kid? That's too much! Wait a minute. "Honda!" He was ready to grab Hiroto by the collar.
"Hey man. It was you who jumped into conclusions not me." He hid behind Shizuka too, laughing.
The little boy stared up at Katsuya, astonishment apparent on his face.
"How old are you?" Katsuya smiled at him.
"I'm 11," he responded quite confidently. "Please give Shizuka to me." He grabbed onto Katsuya's hand, determination shining in his eyes.
Wh-whaaaat?
"Why you little brat!" Hiroto grabbed the kid and they started wrestling.
"Shizuka likes me more, you ugly twig!" the kid exclaimed during the struggle.
"Yeah right you stupid little brat."
Katsuya looked to Shizuka, confused.
Shizuka only giggled. "Those two are always joking around."
Actually I think they're being quite serious. Katsuya turned to stare at the two boys and sighed. The 11 year old was stabbing Hiroto's nose with his fist and kicking at him while Hiroto held the kid up by his collar and was trying to stop the attacks.
Great, now there was a little kid after Shizuka's affections, the list just kept growing.
"Who is he anyways, Shizuka?" He finally closed the door, ignoring the wrestling duo in his way.
"He's one of my neighbour's kids. He really wanted to meet you so I brought him here with me. I hope you don't mind, Big Brother."
"Shizuka was always telling me how great you were. She won't date anyone who isn't as great as her brother, so I came to see." They stopped wrestling.
Katsuya blushed, feeling rather flattered. The kid was surprisingly straightforward. "What's your name?"
"Kuroki Hikaru." He stood up straight.
"Ahh. Do you like Duel Monsters, Hikaru?"
"No! I hate Duel Monsters!" Hikaru stepped back and away from Katsuya.
Worry washed over Shizuka's face. "Hikaru…"
"Shizuka, you never said anything about your brother liking that stupid game! He's the worst! I hate duelists and I hate Duel Monsters!" He was yelling really loudly. "I hate you, Jounouchi Katsuya!" And he fled from Katsuya's home.
"Hikaru!" Shizuka was about to go after him but Hiroto grabbed onto her arm to stop her.
"I'll go after him and take him home. You should stay with Jounouchi."
"Thank you…" Shizuka was starting to become teary.
Hiroto smiled and dashed off.
"What the heck just happened?"
"It's my fault. I should have told you beforehand that Hikaru really hates Duel Monsters. I have no idea why. He wouldn't tell me." She was staring at the ground.
Katsuya wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. "It's not your fault." He was angry at that little brat now. How dare he make Shizuka upset.
"I never told him you were a duelist because the first time I asked him if he liked Duel Monsters, he freaked out on me too. I think it has something to do with his father… His father really hates Duel Monsters too."
"Hey… It's okay, Shizuka. How about some good news? I finished 'Her Grace'." He gave her his gentle smile.
"Did you like it?" She looked up at her brother.
"Yeah. My little sister always had great taste."
Shizuka giggled. "I have something else for you to watch then." She grabbed a stack of DVDs from her bag and handed them to Katsuya. "Tanaka Momoko is in this one too, but not as the main character this time. She's beautiful isn't she?"
He nodded and read the DVD title. "'Memories'?"
"It's about a rich super cute guy who rolled off a steep hill and forgot his memories. He was found by a girl that lived in a small town and she nursed him back to health. He wants to remember his past and well I don't want to spoil you! Tanaka Momoko plays as his ex in this one."
Oh god. These dramas never end.
At the moment, they were hiding behind YamamotoCorp at a spot that Seto claimed to be a blind spot. Seto was in another disguise and his voice changed again. Katsuya was surprised when he saw him. Seto looked like a rock artist! He forced Katsuya to wear a stylish black outfit, eyeliner and weird accessories too. He said their appearance will come in handy if something happened.
They were waiting for it to be a little past midnight before getting near the building where the cameras are.
Seto had his laptop with him of course; he was getting ready to hack into the security system of YamamotoCorp. They were going to sneak in from the backdoor and work their way through the building. It was safer this way. The back had a small parkade for the workers and was located near the recycling and garbage containers. They were hiding behind a wall in the parkade.
The lights were dim and the only thing that could be heard was Seto's clicking. Then, echoing footsteps were heard, and both boys froze.
"Thank you for staying longer." Seto identified the voice to belong to Yamamoto Kenji, the owner of YamamotoCorp. He quickly hid his laptop in his bag.
"No problem! I'm glad I could help."
"So just lock up the place now."
"Yes sir!"
Why were there still people here?
The footsteps eventually faded and soon they heard a car drive out of the parkade.
They peeked from behind the wall and cursed quietly as the security guard was locking up the last door to the building from the parkade. Why was he working so late?
Katsuya stepped back and bumped right into Seto. He felt his breath against him and he jumped, hitting Seto on his chin and then falling down onto the ground with him as he lost his balance suddenly. He heard Seto growl quietly, obviously very pissed off at Katsuya's screw up.
"Who's there?" the security guard cried out in the empty parkade.
The sounds of footsteps grew louder and louder. He was coming closer to them.
Oh shit.
Notes: Thanks again to everyone who left a review! It was really hard to write this chapter. I have problems with writing Kaiba. But when I re-read those lovely comments people left, I push myself to write it anyways. Damn you Kaiba! Damn you for being so hard to write! XD
Thanks for reading! I hope this chapter wasn't too bad.
(1) Haha! Jounouchi's had a bunch of "cute" cards. XD He had things like Baby Dragon, Time Wizard, all those Landstar cards (Swordsman, Brigadier, Grappler, Knight), Landstar Forces, Little Winguard, Graceful Dice, Skull Dice, Star Blaster, Grave robber (I think that one counts as one XD), Scapegoat, Sasuke Samurai…
Kaiba on the other hand was crazy for dragons and had a few other types like machine cards but like his X-Head cannon, Y-Dragon Head and Z-Metal Tank fuses into XYZ-Dragon Cannon. -cough- Dragons… XD;…
(2) Hehehehe…hint hint. -shot- I was so tempted to write something like "Yuji" LOL…man… wouldn't that make Kaiba sooo creative? 8D
(3) Takoyaki is a Japanese dumpling made of batter with a piece of octopus in the middle. It can be topped with tempura scraps, fish shavings, okonomiyaki sauce (like Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter), green onion, mayonnaise and some other stuff. They're round and they're usually considered as a snack food. Wrote this just in case. (I love them and they're so goddamn filling.)