4: Holiday
The previous Meijin wore sunglasses to help cultivate a sense of mystique. Kaiba, on the other hand, didn't need the charade. Maybe it due to his upbringing or some other innate personality trait, but people had been in awe of him or even feared him for his entire life.
He glanced at the man standing next to him. Well, most people anyway— not Jounouchi though. Yuugi came close, but he also had the good sense to back off when told to. Jounouchi, however, approached all his social interactions with the same gusto and never-take-no-as-an-answer attitude. It would explain why he was presently stuck watching Jounouchi fawn over a Tamiya display at the annual Shizuoka Hobby Show.
The Works Team had reached that point in the development cycle where they didn't need the Meijin constantly hovering in the background. They were busy crunching numbers and running computer simulations, while the next calibration test wasn't scheduled for another week. Kaiba couldn't help but stalk the labs while waiting for the next phase— he was a micromanager by nature. While he knew his behavior set the rest of the team on edge, he could only kill so much time battling training dummies or the weakling fighters that frequented the PPSE campus.
Jounouchi had tracked him down in the locker room that morning as he stared down another day of terrorizing his team or some other hapless fighter. Dressed casually in jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket, the builder snatched Kaiba's uniform out of his hand and dumped it back into the locker in a crumpled heap.
"I'm taking you out today," he declared boldly. Kaiba opened his mouth to protest, but Jounouchi shoved a hand in his face to silence him. "And you can't say no. This is on Chief Allan's and Yuugi's orders."
So here he was on a company-mandated "holiday" with Jounouchi as his escort.
"Kaiba, Kaiba," Jounouchi looked up from the demonstration, starry-eyed and brimming with excitement. "It's the British Mk. IV Male tank! It comes with its own motor and gearbox. It even moves at a scaled speed of 6 kilometers per hour. Isn't it amazing?"
He gave a noncommittal grunt in response, and Jounouchi's face fell.
"Ugh," Jounouchi groaned as he sank into a squat, ruffling his hair irritably. "Shit, I thought I'd at least picked something you wouldn't completely hate." His frustration was obvious as he continued to grumble to himself inaudibly.
Watching Jounouchi sulk, Kaiba felt his conscience nag. As much as he loathed to admit it, the tensions from days past had bled away once they got away from the PPSE campus. God, Jounouchi tried. For all his brash and loud-mouthed temperament, he really tried. And for whatever reason, he seemed to genuinely enjoy and seek out Kaiba's company. Kaiba didn't have many allies at PPSE to begin with, even less any he could imagine calling a friend. Jounouchi openly regarded him as a friend, and Kaiba would be lying to himself— self-delusion was not a trait he sought to cultivate— if he said Jounouchi hadn't grown on him over their month of acquaintance.
Kaiba was capable of meeting him halfway.
The staff manning the booth had begun conversing with each other, while throwing suspicious glances in their direction. Maybe they thought Jounouchi was trying to steal from them. Either way, they were drawing attention from the other show-goers and exhibition staff. Now that they were here, Kaiba didn't want to get kicked out of the show.
He grasped Jounouchi by the elbow and pulled him to his feet. "No, you made the best decision you could given the limited information you had. I'm just not much interested in military miniatures."
Jounouchi immediately perked up. "Why didn't you say so before? Aoshima has some great sports car ones, and we can check out the Bandai booth."
Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Why would we need to see the Bandai booth? They already send us samples of everything before market release."
"Yeah, but we're not here as PPSE employees today. We're here as two ordinary guys hanging out and having fun," Jounouchi replied cheekily.
Kaiba wrinkled his nose. "I don't 'hang out'."
What was it that people said? It was lonely at the top.
"Too late! Should've thought of that before you started making evil eyes at the Works Team." Having reclaimed his previous enthusiasm, Jounouchi looped an arm through Kaiba's and dragged him toward the next booth.
-x-x-x-
Later that evening, Kaiba eyed Jounouchi's stash critically. Three shopping bags full of all kinds of kits— not just Gundam— and enough paint to color several mega-sized models were piled up on the sidewalk outside the convention hall. How were they supposed to get all this back to PPSE? They had taken the public transit out here. Jounouchi, on the other hand, was more concerned with assessing the damage done to his finances.
"If your goal was to blow your salary for the month, you've succeeded," Kaiba dryly pointed out.
Jounouchi looked up from his now much emptier and much lighter wallet with a mournful expression. "But you didn't hear them calling you: 'Take me home, Jounouchi-sama. Build me. Paint me!'"
Kaiba snorted. He liked Gunplas well enough, but his interests laid more in battling than building. Other plamos, especially the military ones, couldn't capture his attention in the same way.
"Well, I'm beat." Jounouchi declared, throwing both arms up into the air and stretching. His jacket and t-shirt rode up with the motion, offering a tantalizing glimpse of tanned skin and toned abs. "Oi, my apartment's not far from here. We can walk over there."
Kaiba tore his gaze away and redirected it to his phone. The holo-projection indicated it was a quarter past eight. He swallowed around the lump in his throat. "I should get back."
"C'mon, man," Jounouchi gestured to his bags. "Don't ditch me here. Help me out. I'll treat you to dinner."
Kaiba cocked an eyebrow. "I find it hard to believe you'd have any money left after your spree today."
"Please!" Jounouchi clapped his hands together and pleaded, "I also have some sketch ideas for the Legilis that I can show you."
Yuugi had threatened to straight-up ban him from the labs until the next round of testing if he saw Kaiba set foot on company grounds before the next day. Going with Jounouchi might be the only way he'd get anything resembling work done today. And a part of him was curious. Kaiba was under the impression that Jounouchi lived in the company dorms. But then again, Kaiba also kept an apartment in the city that he rarely saw except on the weekends. Begrudgingly, he took one of the bags shoved in his direction and followed Jounouchi through the moonlit streets of Shizuoka.
A half-an-hour's walk wasn't what he would call "nearby." The bag handle was biting into his palm by the time they stopped in front of a modern apartment building. He rolled his eyes as Jounouchi fumbled with his keys, dropping them twice before another tenant leaving the building graciously let them in. Jounouchi took a detour to his mailbox and returned with some mail hastily stuffed between a motorbike kit and the new RE/100 Nightingale. They rode the elevator up to the fifth floor, before finally arriving at their destination at the end of a hallway.
"I'm home," Jounouchi called as he kicked off his sneakers. He didn't seem bothered to not receive any response. Maybe he said it out of habit.
Kaiba put the shopping bag down before toeing off his shoes. The entryway of Jounouchi's apartment led straight into the living room, which was unsurprisingly messy. Mangas and hobby magazines were strewn across the couch and coffee table. At least there weren't any half-eaten containers of takeout or empty snack bags lying everywhere. The only orderly part of the room appeared to be the two bookshelves flanking the small TV, whose every inch was occupied by either DVDs or finished models.
Jounouchi laughed upon seeing his face. "If you think this is bad, you should see my bedroom. On second thought, never mind. You'd never let me live it down."
"Hn."
"Give me a sec. I gotta put everything away in my workshop," he vanished down the hall with his purchases.
Kaiba listened as he banged around in the other room, shaking his head when Jounouchi crashed into something and cursed loudly. Something green caught his eye. Reaching under the April issue of Gundam Ace left on the couch, he rescued a partially assembled Hi-Zack. There weren't many safe places to set the model aside, so he left it on top of a RahXephon box set on the shelf. Then he began digging through the mess to see if there were any other parts lying around. He quickly unearthed several wheels, a miniature Char figurine, and a handful of stray polycaps.
Several moments later, Jounouchi shouted from his workshop. "I think I have some leftover Chinese in the fridge. You want any?"
Kaiba's stomach growled on cue. He hadn't realized how tired and hungry he was until now. Before he could scold Jounouchi for his stingy offerings, the lock on the front door turned. A slender and pretty brunette with a bag of groceries slung over one shoulder let herself in.
"I'm home," but as soon as she saw Kaiba standing in the living room, she froze midway through removing her shoe. "Oh," she gasped and turned bright red.
God, Kaiba really hoped he hadn't landed himself in the path of an oncoming domestic. He was going to beat Jounouchi into a pulp if that was the case. Not to mention, wasn't this girl a bit young for him? She didn't look like she'd finished high school yet.
Footsteps signaled Jounouchi's return. "Hey, Kaiba, why'd you go all quiet? Oh hey, you're here." He swept past Kaiba and pulled the girl into a tight hug.
Something inside Kaiba squirmed.
Her words were muffled in Jounouchi's jacket, so it took Kaiba a few extra seconds to process what she actually said.
"Onii-chan, you could have told me you uhh... you know, had company." Her cheeks remained flushed after pulling away.
The squirming thing inside Kaiba unraveled.
"No, Kaiba's a friend from work," Jounouchi seemed to correct her.
She immediately relaxed and the blush ebbed from her cheeks. "Oh, like Yuugi-san."
"Yes, like Yuugi."
The two siblings shared a look and then a nod— a kind of silent communication where she seemed to scold Jounouchi and he placated her in return. Kaiba couldn't be sure though. Given the chance to study them side-by-side, he could make out the family resemblance. It was more in their body language than anything else; the light in their eyes and the familiar way they leaned against one another.
A dull pain pierced Kaiba's heart as he remembered his little brother. Who knew how long it would be before he saw Mokuba again. Maybe he should call him when he went home tonight.
Jounouchi's sister slowly untangled herself, ribbing Jounouchi to finally break free. "I'm sorry. Please excuse my brother, his manners are non-existent. I'm Kawai Shizuka, his younger sister. I'm in my first year of high school."
Kaiba glanced over at Jounouchi, who shrugged.
"Our parents went through a bad divorce," he offered as way of explanation.
"Onii-chan!"
"What? It's true."
"My name is Kaiba Seto," he paused to consider his job title. He hadn't technically debuted as Meijin Kawaguchi the Fourth yet. PPSE intended to keep that a secret until the announcement at the world tournament. "I also work at PPSE with your brother."
"Nice to meet you, Kaiba-san," she gave a polite bow. "Please have a seat. Would you like something to drink? I'll go see what's in the fridge."
"Shizuka," Jounouchi groaned. "You don't have to dote on him. He'll get a big head from it. He already expects us to wait on him hand and feet at work."
"It's what you do for guests, Onii-chan!" she lectured and bustled off in the direction of the kitchen. "Especially if they're your superiors."
His eyes never leaving Kaiba's face, Jounouchi smirked and shouted after her. "Nope, Kaiba started two months ago, which makes me the senpai."
"I'm nobody's kohai," growled Kaiba to himself.
He must have spoken louder than he meant to. Shizuka's silvery laughter filled the apartment as Jounouchi's smirk widened in response. He dragged a hand down his face to hide his mortification, grumbling into his palm. Warm, calloused fingers grasped his wrist and pried his hand away. Kaiba's breath caught in his throat. Why was Jounouchi standing so damn close? Didn't he have any sense of propriety? Kaiba glared harder than he had at anyone else all week— and it had been a long one.
Jounouchi laughed. Dammit, Kaiba wasn't trying to be amusing. The rumble of mirth bled into Kaiba's body through the pulse point cradled between Jounouchi's fingers, igniting a fire in his veins. "Lemme make it up to you with those sketches I promised."
It was too late to pull out of Jounouchi's orbit. Kaiba feared he didn't want to. Something was crumbling— had been eroding from the first day he met Jounouchi Katsuya.