11: Shock Tactics
Kaiba's door swung open and slammed shut with a bang. There was only one person with keys to his room, who came and went without as much as a by-your-leave.
"We are not going to hang around our hotel rooms all day," Jounouchi reached over and powered down Kaiba's laptop screen.
He swiveled around to face Jounouchi and coolly asked, "We're not?"
"Hell no. We have two days before the finals, and it's a fucking nice day outside."
Jounouchi wasn't wearing his work uniform— that was the first warning sign. After almost ten days of seeing nothing but the PPSE stadium and their hotel rooms, he was bound to get cagey. As Jounouchi maneuvered around his chair, it gave Kaiba a brief moment to admire the man's denim-clad ass. The moment was cut short when Jounouchi tore open the window curtains. Kaiba hissed and turned away, muttered a string of curses under his breath. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight encroaching on his room.
"We're going to get some vitamin D," Jounouchi declared before dragging him from his chair.
They fought for a while. They usually did when Jounouchi insisted on trying to force something for Kaiba's "own good." He eventually yielded after Jounouchi threatened to strip him. A beat of hesitation hung between them afterwards, Jounouchi's eyes widening as his sluggish brain finally processed what he'd just said. With steady hands and eyes that never strayed from Jounouchi's face, Kaiba unbuttoned his pajama top and peeled one sleeve off.
"For Christ's sake, no one wants to see you naked, you pervert," Jounouchi yelped, threw his hands over his eyes, and spun around to face the other way; but not before Kaiba caught the tide of red rising in his cheeks.
He smirked and went to change.
-x-x-x-
Kaiba pulled the bill of the baseball cap lower over his face— the hat's crown proudly bore logo for the "10th Gunpla Battle World Championships." Jounouchi had bought it from a souvenir stand for 3500 yen after another argument about remaining incognito in public. The shopping center was too close to the stadium. And with no other tournament activities scheduled for the day, it was also swarming with Gunpla fans.
So far, no one looked twice at him.
Jounouchi immediately gravitated toward the local hobby store. Kaiba caught him by the sleeve and pointed through the shop window. Inside, Reiji and his silver-haired friend from the other night were getting a hands-on demonstration on building Gunplas. Their teacher, a brown-haired man, leaned forward to point out something on Reiji's unfinished Gunpla.
Jounouchi tensed and tore himself away from the door. "Maybe we'll come later. Yuugi's waiting for us."
Kaiba stuck close to Jounouchi as they traveled through the mall. He tensed a few times, ready to grab Jounouchi's hand and run, whenever a shopper seemed to pay him a little too much attention. Once, Jounouchi looked over, rolled his eyes, and mouthed "relax." Kaiba pulled the hat lower over his face.
When they arrived at the cafe, Yuugi was already seated at a table for four inside. He waved as they approached and bounced like a boy half his age would. "It's good to see you, Jounouchi-kun, Kaiba-kun."
Jounouchi swooped in for an easy hug. "How's the old fort holding down?" he asked after pulling back.
Kaiba took the seat opposite Yuugi, giving a silent nod of acknowledgment as he sat down.
"Same old, same old. Everyone's really excited about the progress you and Kaiba-kun have been making. I heard that the rest of the Works Team went out to celebrate last night." Yuugi looked over at Kaiba with amusement shining in his eyes— his gaze then lingered on Kaiba's hat.
He rolled his eyes, silently daring Yuugi to say something. Yuugi wisely kept his mouth shut.
Jounouchi pouted. "No fair, why'd no one call us?"
"You were still on-duty last night," Kaiba reminded him. He, on the other hand, was glad to not to have endure another nomikai so soon after the last one. No doubt there would be another more extravagant one after he won the tournament itself.
Jounouchi dropped into the seat next to him and stuck out his tongue. "Party pooper."
The conversation quickly moved away from work. Well, Yuugi and Jounouchi chatted enough for all three of them— Kaiba was content to sit back, enjoy his hot coffee, and interject with the occasional comment. Their table was next to the cafe's window, offering an unobstructed view of the rest of the shopping center. He spotted several other finalists and former competitors enjoying their day, but there were also families with children of all ages. He watched a group of teenage boys chase each other past their window, and wondered where Mokuba was at the moment. Kaiba hadn't heard from his little brother since the email saying he'd arrived in Shizuoka on the very first day of the tournament. He tried to call several times since then, but it went straight to voicemail each time.
"Hey Kaiba, what's with the long face?" Jounouchi's weight was a solid comfort suddenly draped against his shoulder, and his voice quiet and concerned.
Yuugi stared at them from across the table, probably waiting for Kaiba to shake off Jounouchi. He didn't. Whatever physical intimacy Jounouchi could throw at him now paled in comparison to the full-body hug he received after the qualifiers. While he wasn't ready to initiate contact first, he was prepared to accept these little moments between them.
Jounouchi's phone rang, playing a melody that Kaiba vaguely recalled as the opening theme of a Gundam anime series— he wasn't sure which one though. Kaiba's side grew cold and bereft when Jounouchi pulled away to answer his call. He angled the screen away, but not before Kaiba caught a glimpse of the caller ID: Allan Adams.
The chair scraped across the floor as he stood. "Sorry, guys, I gotta take this. This is Jounouchi," he paused to listen to the voice on the other end. Whatever was being said spurred him to draw away from the table with a frown darkened his features. "Don't panic, I saw him at..."
The rest of the sentence was lost as Jounouchi swiftly moved toward the exit, leaving Kaiba and Yuugi alone. Kaiba's gaze trailed after Jounouchi, who was continuing his conversation outside the cafe while pacing back and forth; he seemed more annoyed than distressed. He returned his attention to Yuugi, who had been watching him this whole time. He wondered what Yuugi saw between him and Jounouchi— if their chemistry was as sickeningly obvious to him as it was to Kaiba. Part of Kaiba balked at the idea of being that exposed. But as one of his oldest acquaintances, Yuugi was allowed more leeway than most people.
"If you have something to say, spit it out," Kaiba sighed.
"I'm glad you're continuing to get along with Jounouchi-kun. It's good for you to have friends your own age." Yuugi chuckled into his cup.
He rolled his eyes. Yuugi spoke like there was a thirty years difference between them, rather than three.
"I suppose I need to thank you for introducing me to a competent builder for once," he drawled. Not only had Yuugi introduced him to Gunpla battle and started him on the road to who he was today, but now Jounouchi too. These were not debts Kaiba would be able to repay in one lifetime.
"Jounouchi-kun can be very persistent when he puts his mind to it. He bugged me for days before I finally introduced you two. Given the differences in your personalities, I had some doubts at first."
"Wait, Jounouchi insisted that you introduced us to each other?" His pulse was pounding in his ear. When they first met, Jounouchi acted like he couldn't care one way or another about what Kaiba thought of him. Yet he was apparently the one to have begged Yuugi into introducing them.
Yuugi nodded slowly. "Jounouchi-kun has been trying to get on the Works Team since the day you were chosen as Meijin. But I suppose the administration thought he didn't have enough experience. He even had Adams-san lobbying for his inclusion. In the end, he probably figured it'd be easier to go around the red tape and approach you directly."
Kaiba scowled. "He was rude. He didn't make a good first impression."
He didn't understand how Jounouchi's brain worked— if it worked at all— sometimes.
"Maybe he thought that was the only way to get your attention. It worked, didn't it?"
"You make him sound almost Machiavellian." Kaiba wanted to laugh, but these new revelations weighed heavily on him. He knew they were important, but he didn't have enough context to figure out why. "But why was he so set on joining the team?"
Yuugi shrugged. "I'm not sure; all Jounouchi-kun would tell me was he needed to be on the Works Team no matter what. But Jounouchi-kun is more ambitious than most people give him credit for. You wouldn't put up with him otherwise, Kaiba-kun."
-x-x-x-
Kaiba's fingers and toes drummed against his elbow and the floor in a staccato rhythm of impatience. They said "goodbye" to Yuugi almost five minutes ago, but Jounouchi and he still chatted away. A minute later, Jounouchi caught his eye and smiled apologetically. Kaiba gave him another two minutes.
After a nod toward Yuugi, he drifted away from them, glancing into the other storefronts. No one paid him any attention; his own scowling face staring back from the store windows.
"We can have dinner together," a familiar voice said from nearby.
Kaiba turned his head and spotted Reiji over his right shoulder. He was standing with several others, including Adams of all people.
"We should really get going…" Adams hemmed and hawed, glancing between the younger teens and the other man at his side.
Kaiba shifted toward his right. If Jounouchi wasn't going to entertain him, he would look for it elsewhere. Because even if no one else recognized Kaiba, Reiji must. He flinched— a weight suddenly clamped around his wrist, holding him in place. The heat seeping into his skin was telling. "Jounouchi—" he growled with a put-down on the tip of his tongue.
"Where ya going?" Jounouchi blurted out his question before his lips fell into a stern line.
Yuugi was a spot of maroon and blue before he disappeared between groups of shoppers.
"You didn't have to stop on my account."
"You're grumpy, I get it, but ya shouldn't, ya know, wander off," Jounouchi's eyes darted to a distant spot over Kaiba's shoulder before returning to his face. Jounouchi then cracked a smile and added, "I might hafta file a lost child report with the security office if you do. C'mon, I need to hit the hobby store before it closes."
They earned several long stares as Jounouchi bodily dragged him away. Kaiba glared at the gawkers until they finally looked away.
-x-x-x-
Nii-sama, let's meet up and celebrate you going to the finals!
The message arrived early the next morning. Kaiba scrambled out of bed and replied with one asking where Mokuba wanted to meet.
By the statue at the park entrance near the stadium. See you in 30 minutes?
He responded with an affirmative and got ready for the day. He was dressed and shaven in 15 minutes, before donning yesterday's baseball cap just in case. He hesitated for a moment before grabbing Jounouchi's room key and letting himself into the room next door. Through the darkness, Kaiba heard soft snores emanating from the swathed bundle on top of the mattress. One of Jounouchi's bare legs sticking out from under the blankets twitched.
He checked the time. He had ten minutes before he was due to meet Mokuba, which was nowhere near enough time to drag Jounouchi out of bed and stuff him into presentable clothing. Kaiba smiled to himself as he gently closed the door behind him. He would have to bring Mokuba by to meet Jounouchi later— his brother and Jounouchi were bound to get along with one another.
Unfortunately, many of the fighters who didn't make it past the qualifiers were also checking out at the time. The elevator came up to the top floor several times, already full of people and luggage trying to reach the lobby. He wasted several minutes waiting like this before opting to take the stairs. He jogged the rest of the way to the park, which was thankfully close by. It was early enough that the streets were mostly empty.
Someone was already waiting by the statue. Kaiba didn't have a good view from his line of approach, but the figure was too tall to be Mokuba— unless he went through a very extreme growth spurt since they last saw each other in December. The man also wore a suit, which Mokuba wouldn't be caught dead in. Something about the posture, familiar and smug, set off alarm bells inside Kaiba's head though. On the battle system's HUD, this moment would have manifested itself as a proximity alert. He cautiously moved around one side of the statue to come face to face with his brother.
It just wasn't the brother he expected.
"What the hell are you doing here? Where's Mokuba?" he demanded, dimly realizing that was already more words said to this man than in the last year combined. Reflexively, he curled both hands into fists and stepped up, forcibly extruding every ounce of malice he could muster.
"Hello, Seto," Noa smiled with white porcelain teeth and a cold light that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Father would like a word with you."
The limo's tires screeched as it pulled up to the curb behind him.