Jou jumped awake, heart pounding. Trying to find the source of his alarm, he sat up, overbalanced and slid out of the satin covers onto the floor. He never had been much of a morning person.
The 6am bell continued to ring as he staggered over to his wardrobe, shivering. Apparently it was cold at 6am, and he was only wearing boxers. Pulling on a nearby dressing gown, he wobbled over to the bathroom, eyeing the shower warily. As he slid off the robe, he caught sight of the initials on the pocket and stopped still, letting the gown fall to the floor.
"Shit."
The previous night came flooding back to him. He hadn't even prepared for today, since he'd been too confused to focus on anything. How was he going to face Seto, let alone talk to him? Would Seto kick him out of the job? Anything could happen.
Deciding just to take the day as it came, he kicked off his boxers and turned on the shower. He leant against the marble tiles as warm water cascaded over him, trying to stop himself from thinking too much. And yet, as he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but remember Kaiba's expression after waking up, it seemed to be printed permanently on the back of his eyelids. Seto's eyes had been wide, his expression shocked, vulnerable, upset, and, well, human. It felt like he'd seen a side of Kaiba that barely anyone else had seen. Perhaps not even Mokuba.
Sighing, he stepped out of the shower, climbing into a towel and wrapping it around himself. Wandering around the room, he wondered whether Seto would come in to wake him up again. He frowned. Seto? That was new. It wasn't terrible though, and besides, the brunette had used his first name several times before, no big deal. Running a hand through his soaking hair, he decided it was unlikely that the CEO would appear. It would be a miracle if Seto ever spoke to him again, considering how prone he was to isolation, and how angrily he'd reacted. A day ago, he wouldn't have cared. And yet, now, something was different. He felt compelled to do something, to change how things had turned out, to – well. He hesitated. To help Seto? That certainly wasn't something that would have occurred to him a day ago.
Sighing, he decided to face his fears, and began to pull on some clothes.
Breakfast was predictably overexcitable, even more so that their master wasn't present. Jou began to realise why Kaiba disliked company so much, especially in relation to the maids. They tried to thieve more celebrity news from him, but he politely made no comment on their frantic questions, and tried to finish his breakfast quickly. He peered over at Larson a couple of times, who, every so often, would look towards the door, as if expecting his master to appear. He didn't.
Jou left the table as the maids cleared up the food, and he noticed Larson beckoning him discreetly into the next room. Curious, he followed the elderly butler into the drawing room, and closed the door behind him.
"Mr. Jounouchi, I shouldn't really be prying, but –"he hesitated. "I care about the young master, and this morning, he told me he wouldn't be going into work."
Jou frowned, was that significant?
"He has never voluntarily missed a day at work in his life, the company is far too important to him."
Jou's eyebrows shot into his hairline. Last night had clearly hit a sensitive nerve then.
"That sounds pretty serious, then."
"Forgive me for prying, sir, but did anything happen whilst he was in your company last night?"
Jou hesitated. Knowing Kaiba, he wouldn't want anyone to know. But Larson had clearly been working in the family for a long time. Did that mean he could be trusted? Seeing the concerned look on the old man's face, Jou's instincts told him yes, but he decided to let Kaiba make that decision, not him.
"I'm sorry, Larson, we only watched a film, and then he went to bed. I don't remember anything extraordinary happening. I wish I could help."
Larson sighed, nodding.
"No matter, Jounouchi, I just now have reason to believe that the master's state is a lot more serious than I thought." He paused. Jou wasn't sure how to respond.
"Do you think – well - I don't know?" The old man buried the rest of his sentence, uncertainly.
"What is it?"
"Do you think you could, that is to say, could you try to have a word? I'll be honest, Jounouchi, you're the first person he's voluntarily spent time alone with in months." The butler looked significantly worried.
"I – well." Jou wasn't sure what to say. "I should get on with the commission. And if he doesn't want to be bothered, I don't think it would make any difference if it was me."
He kicked himself inside, as the Larson sighed, clearly disappointed.
"It's alright, Jounouchi, maybe he'll snap out of it after a few hours." The elder man bowed slightly, and then left the room. Jou was left, thinking about what he'd been trying to avoid thinking about.
The first time he'd EVER missed work? That was serious. But what could he possibly do? There was no way Kaiba would talk to him about his problems. The only person who probably could was Mokuba. And Mokuba probably wouldn't without persuasion. From who?
With a jolt, he sat bolt upright, realising in a panic something he'd completely missed.
Where was Jared? Nobody had checked on him, and he hadn't seen him since yesterday afternoon. Was he alright? Had he been mugged getting home? Was he still alive?
Hands trembling, Jou began to type in the younger man's number. How could he have let Seto corrupt his thought stream to the point where he FORGOT about his Secretary?! Oh god, he didn't want to think about what would happen if Jared wasn't...if he hadn't...
His stomach turning, the tone began to ring.
"Pick up. Pick UP." Jou felt sick to his stomach. The tone kept ringing. And ringing. And -
"Sir?"
"Oh thank god! Jared, where the hell are you?" Jou took a relieved breath.
"Jou, I'm so sorry, I should have texted!" the younger man sounded sleepy.
"No, it's my fault. Now where ARE you?"
"Oh! I stayed, well. I, um, I stayed with Mokuba last night."
Jou didn't realise the connotations of this at first, and just celebrated the fact he hadn't left his secretary for dead.
"Oh thank god. I almost had a heart attack!"
The other didn't reply, Jou heard mumbling in the background. Was that Mokuba? Wait, he thought about it for a second, Jared had stayed with Mokuba last night. And had forgotten to notify him. And Jared NEVER forgot to notify him.
A smile crept onto Jou's face.
"Jared?"
"Y-yes, sir?"
"How's Mokie?"
Jou could almost feel the intern's blush radiating out from the handset.
"I'm fine, Jou! Now can we go back to sleep?" yawned the younger Kaiba down the phone.
"Sure thing, boys. Jared, don't be in a rush to get back, I'll only be working on the commission. Later!"
He hung up, smirking. Well, that was unexpected. But considering the way Mokuba had been eyeing Jared yesterday, perhaps it wasn't as much of a surprise as he thought. And, getting laid probably wouldn't have hurt him. Mokuba was probably quite a catch. Just like his olde-
Jou stopped his train of thought exactly where it was, and made his way towards the studio.
Several hours later, Jou stepped back from his work. Having cut out the patterns, the coat was now beginning to take some form, with the body already positioned on the manikin, the arms a working progress and the collar pinned on. He couldn't help but let a smile creep onto his face. He loved his work, sometimes. And, now that the trench coat was finally beginning to visibly come together, he could let himself celebrate for a few minutes. Deciding to take a break, he leaned against the table, closing his eyes. As he opened them again, the first thing that caught his eye was the small, black, security camera. He briefly entertained the idea that Kaiba was watching him, and then put it to one side. And yet...
He hadn't heard it zooming in or out, so it was unlikely. But maybe Seto was wise to that, and had decided not to, in case he heard. But what did it matter if he was watching? It wasn't like he could talk to him through the camera. Or could he? Maybe he could make it clear that he wasn't going to tease Seto about last night if he just acted civilly towards him? He might refuse to talk in person, but what if he communicated through the lens?
Standing up, he picked up the manikin, and moved it closer to the camera. The camera didn't move. Grabbing a pen and paper, he wrote a message in bold, blue ink: "Is this OK?"
Obviously the camera wouldn't be able to communicate with him, but it was worth a shot. He'd have to talk to Kaiba at some point anyway for the fitting. And he didn't like the isolationism. It wasn't healthy. It wasn't that he cared for Kaiba; he was just a morally sound human being, who knew when something bad for someone. Or at least that was what he told himself. Taking a breath, he held the paper up to the camera. Kaiba was probably laughing at him.
To his surprise, the camera began to zoom in, the familiar whirring noises returning. A grin crept onto his face, which he quickly subdued, although he was surprised that had worked. What was he going to do now though? Taking the pen again, he scribbled another message quickly on the paper: "Need opinion."
He held it up again, and the camera whirred accordingly. It was a long shot, and very unlikely that Kaiba would come down, or even give any sort of reply. Putting the paper down, he moved back towards the manikin, starting up work again. The ball was in Seto's court. If he wanted to play, that was.
At 4pm, almost 2 hours later, there was a short rap on the door. Jou's head shot up. Could it be?
As Larson entered he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Not that he'd ever admitted. But, for some reason, he noticed, Larson was looking more cheerful; he even went as far as to smile as he approached Jou.
"Jounouchi, could I interrupt your work for a second?"
"Of course, can I help?"
The older man nodded, almost eagerly.
"The master has asked to see you." Jou's heart skipped a little. Did this mean Kaiba was going to break his vow of silence? Or, he thought, more darkly, was he just going to fire him?
"Please, Jounouchi, could you tell me how he is? See if you can do something?" It was almost a plea.
"Of course, I'll see whether I can't cheer the depressive bugger up." Larson smiled, gesturing towards the door.
As Jou moved out into the corridor, his heart rate increased tenfold. Why was he so nervous? Probably because Kaiba had looked ready to kill him last night, that might have had something to do with it. He climbed the large staircase, and made his way down the long corridor to Kaiba's suite. Pausing outside, he mentally braced himself, and then knocked.
There was a long pause, so long that Jou thought about leaving, when Seto replied, quietly.
"Come in, Jounouchi."
His voice was hard. Jou swallowed, and entered the room. Kaiba did not face him as he entered the room. He sat, peering at the computer screen. There was a pause, as neither man spoke.
"Can I help?" Jou pushed, after almost a minute of listening to nothing but his own rocketing heartbeat and Kaiba's tapping fingers.
"Seto?"
The brunette stopped, and turned to face Jou, not making eye contact. Jou noticed that his eyes were bloodshot, and the bags seemed to be larger. He clearly hadn't slept that night.
"I just wanted to notify you that your work is so far satisfactory, and you may continue." The words seemed forced, somehow. To Jou's dismay, the other man turned back to his computer. That was it?
"Is that all?" Jou asked, trying not to sound too irritated, although he very much felt it.
"Yes. You may leave."
Kaiba continued to tap away at the keyboard. His face was a complete blank. Jou suddenly began to feel very angry. Incredibly angry. Why wouldn't Kaiba let anyone in? Why would he go as far as to invite Jou upstairs after last night if he wasn't going to discuss it? He knew he'd kick himself afterwards, but instead of leaving, he slammed the door shut behind him, standing his ground.
Seto stopped his work, and slowly swung round in the chair to face him. His features moved slowly into a glare.
"I said you could leave, Jounouchi."
"It's not that easy, Kaiba."
There was a long pause. Seto didn't reply, but his frown told Jounouchi he should have left it. And yet, there was something so infuriating about this. Kaiba wouldn't let anybody help him, because he thought he was above it. It was time to bring him down a notch. Aware he could be sacrificing the entire project, Jounouchi took a step further towards him.
"What are you doing?" Kaiba spoke, slowly.
"Not leaving." replied Jou, carefully "Until we talk."
"What is there to talk about?" Seto's voice wavered. He didn't make eye contact. Jou could tell this was exactly what he'd been trying to keep away from discussing.
"Last night."
Jou wasn't sure what part of him was controlling his actions, but he was too far in now. And, remembering Kaiba's facial expression the previous night, he felt even more motivated. He took another step towards the CEO.
"We don't need to talk about that. And I have asked you to leave. So could you kindly do so?" The brunette was still holding fast. He was, however, sounding less and less sure of himself. Jou swore he saw the other's hands trembling as they moved over the keyboard.
Jou sighed, knowing what had to be said.
"I know where he is, Kaiba."
The brunette's head whipped around, staring at Jou with shocked, wide eyes.
"Where?"
"I'm not going to tell you, yet."
"WHAT." The brunette growled, his eyes narrowing, standing up from the chair so violently he almost knocked it over. "You WILL tell me." He moved quickly towards Jou, and Jou took a step back, suddenly feeling too far in. Kaiba stepped closer. Jou didn't reply.
"WHERE IS MY BROTHER, JOUNOUCHI?" The brunette almost yelled the question, taking Jou by surprise and grabbing his shirt collar, pulling him harshly towards him. Jou didn't let the apprehension creep on to his face, and instead watched Kaiba carefully. The CEO's already red eyes were wide with rage, and, as Jou kept his silence, the other grew more and more agitated. "TELL ME, YOU BASTARD."
Jou tried not to let the insult affect him.
"If you see him now, you'll make it worse."
"What the FUCK do you know, mutt?" To Jou's surprise, the brunette's voice cracked. "Do you think this is fucking FUNNY? Is this a JOKE to you?" When Jou didn't react, Kaiba suddenly turned on him, swinging his arm round and punching Jou right in the face. Jou staggered backwards, clutching his cheek. He was in over his head, Kaiba was going to kill him. But, if he let him see Mokuba like this, who knew what would happen between the two brothers?
Seto was breathing hard, his fists clenched, his body tensed, and, to Jou's alarm, tears began to flood from his bloodshot eyes. The brunette seemed to realise this, and became even angrier, launching himself towards Jounouchi in a violent rage. Jou took another fist to the stomach, and keeled over against the wall, coughing. Pain streamed through his body, but not once did he fight back. If he did, it would make the situations worse, and besides, Seto was already getting tired. The tears continued to cascade down his face, his expression contorting from rage, into pain, incredible sadness. This was what Kaiba had been trying to hide for months, bottling up, trying to stop anyone from seeing.
The sheer anguish on the other man's face made Jou's heart wrench, painfully.
"G-GET OUT." The other man sobbed, trembling.
"S-seto." Jou coughed, weakly. "Wait."
"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE." The brunette screamed, grabbing him roughly by the arm and marched him towards the door.
"Seto, just LISTEN to me." Jou tried to reason with him as the CEO slammed him roughly against the wall.
"GET. OUT." Seto spat, beginning to open the door. Jou grabbed his arm, and pushed him away, stopping him from shutting him out. He was only doing this because he was ashamed. Jou understood now, he'd left last night because he was so embarrassed about sharing his real feelings, because he didn't want to be viewed as emotional. What he thought was weak. He didn't want to be comforted, or pitied. But Jou couldn't let him push him away now, otherwise he'd never speak to anyone again. He'd never show his true feelings again.
"I'm not GOING to, until we TALK." Jou managed to speak, despite pain flooding through his abdomen. Seto made to punch him again, but Jou caught his hand, realising just how weak the brunette actually was. He grabbed the brunette's other hand, pushing away from the door. The other man's strength began to fail, his entire body began to shiver with exhaustion. Jou watched in shock, as the CEO's usually expressionless face filled up with emotion, the culmination of months of bottling up. As Jou's strength got the better of him, Seto collapsed to his knees, and began to sob, clutching at his hair, shaking.
"G-go on. LAUGH. F-fuck it." Seto hissed, refusing to look up. "I know you want to. L-look at me. I'm a fucking failure. I b-bet this is fucking HILARIOUS for you."
He continued to sob, and Jou's heart wrenched painfully in his chest once again as he watched the man break down.
"No, Seto. It really isn't." Jou replied, slowly, softly. Carefully, he sat down beside Seto. Swallowing, he moved his arms around the trembling brunette. He flinched violently, but Jou continued to hold him. He pulled the other into a firm embrace. He had no idea why he was even risking this, but just watching the other man in tears on the floor just didn't seem like the right thing to do at all. The brunette tensed up, but Jou didn't let go, moving his hand over the other's back in an attempt to comfort him. To Jou's surprise, the other slowly, reluctantly, became limp in Jou's arms, his sobs subsiding.
"Why couldn't you just leave?" the other whispered, almost inaudibly.
Jou didn't say anything, but continued to hold him until the sobs became silent tears. Kaiba never returned the embrace, but he didn't push Jou away, either. Jou kept moving his hand over the brunette's back, soothingly, trying to comfort him where words couldn't. They sat there for a long time, until Jounouchi thought it was safe to release him. He moved his arms back to his sides, watching the other man intently.
"Seto?" he asked, quietly. Seto didn't move.
"Can we talk?"
The brunette didn't reply for a while. Then, just barely, he nodded.
Jou didn't move, but watched the other man carefully. The worst of the breakdown seemed to have disappeared, but Kaiba was probably still dealing with having him there. This was probably the first time he'd ever shown any sort of vulnerability to anyone. He didn't need any comforting, that would just make him feel worse. And god knows what would happen then.
"I'll tell you where he is, if you'll deal with this rationally. And," he paused, keeping his eyes trained on the CEO "I won't tell anyone about this. What's happened. You have my word."
Seto looked up. He watched Jounouchi intently, as if testing him. Surely Kaiba didn't still suspect him of being insincere? Seto's eyes were even more bloodshot, and rimmed red from the tears. Jou had the urge to hug him again, but he sensed that probably wasn't a good idea.
"What do you want to know?" his voice was barely a whisper.
"What happened. Between you and Mokuba."
Seto looked down, he'd clearly been expecting that. For a while, he didn't respond, eyes to the floor.
"I fucked up."
Jou hadn't been expecting that. Was Seto finally opening up to him?
"What did you do?"
"I, well, I didn't want him leaving. It's not safe...out there. So I stopped him from going to University. I even threatened him, locked him away. And th-then..."
"What happened, Kaiba?"
"He, he hit me. He said I was acting just like, j-just l-like..." Seto's fists clenched.
"He lied." Jou said, without thinking. Seto didn't look up.
"No he didn't. I was acting just like him. Restricting him, locking him away, threatening him? G-gozaburo did that." It even seemed hard for Seto to say his name.
Seto stopped talking. Jou frowned.
"You're missing something."
"What?" Kaiba said, weakly, clearly not taking him seriously.
"Well, I don't know much about what, well, what HE did." Jou began, carefully. Seto didn't respond. "But by the sounds of it he was doing it maliciously. You weren't."
"What do you mean, mutt?" Kaiba looked up, finally making eye contact.
"You said it yourself. You were doing it, well, because you CARE for Mokuba."
Seto watched him, his face a blank. Jounouchi wasn't sure what to say, so waited, returning Seto's gaze.
"But he said it. He told me."
"Because he knew how much it would hurt you. Not because he meant it." Seto looked away.
They sat in silence for a while, neither moving. Jou didn't want to push Kaiba too much, he'd already been over the edge once today. He continued to feel the urge to reach out and touch the other man, but he'd probably already surpassed his limits today. He controlled himself, keeping his hands where they were. Instead, he watched the other man, seeing him in almost a completely different light. Seto was human, perhaps more human than Jou. And he'd experienced it. He finally understood why Kaiba had brought him back to Japan. It had been a subconscious cry for help, rather than for the simple reason that taunting Jou amused him. And Jou felt a wave of sympathy for him. He remembered when Shizuka had left him in America to go to Harvard, it had felt like a part of him had left forever, never to return. He couldn't blame Seto for acting that way. And, remembering Mokuba's expression, he knew that the younger boy probably felt just as empty.
"Katsuya?" Jou turned to face the brunette again, surprised to hear his first name being used.
"Yes?"
Kaiba's previously forlorn gaze had now become stronger, more determined. His cerulean eyes were fixed on Jou, almost pleading with him.
"Help me get him back."
A/N: Woah, I was tense whilst writing that. I'm aware this is pretty OOC for Kaiba, I don't know whether I've ever read a puppyshipping fic which had him break down, but I think if anyone had bottled that much emotion up over almost a year, it was bound to explode somehow. I hope you guys are enjoying it. I promise the plot will speed up soon! Just let me get this history coursework deadline out of the way!
Review if you have time, guys! I always like to hear what you guys think :)