"You don't have to keep givin' me stuff everytime ya see me," Jou told his father as Kenji pushed a fancy-looking bag across the table.

They were having lunch at a small place before going to the place Kenji had rented.

"Just open it," his father said, rolling his eyes.

Jou took the back and pulled out what's inside, then froze. It was a duel deck, a full one. As Jou flipped through the cards, he recognized all the ones he'd owned before his father had sold them.

"How'd you even remember the ones I used?" He asked breathlessly.

Kenji chuckled. "I may be an old man, but I do know how to use the internet. I just googled battle city Katsuya jounouchi deck and bought all the cards I could find. I even went back re-bought that black dragon from the guy I gave it to."

Jou's eyes watered as he laid them on his red eyes black dragon card. God, it brought back so many memories, and in a weird way it reminded him of Kaiba, with the dragon being the counterpart of the blue eyes white dragon.

"Thank you."

"You ain't gotta thank me, but you do gotta finish up your food or we might not have time to see our new place before you have to go back to work."

Jou gave his father a hesitant smile before digging into his food. He'd already agreed to seeing the place, but he had no intentions of moving in. Every moment he'd spent with his father had felt so right, like he was finding his way back home. When Kenji brought their old friends out and they all started recounting memories from when Jou was a child, it only reminded him how different his and Kaiba's worlds were. With Kaiba, things were so organized and strict and safe. It was a stark contrast to the chaotic mess of a life he'd had with his father and their old friends. There was violence and instability and a lot of harm, yes, but there was this sense of community and fulfillment that Jou hadn't felt sense he'd entered Kaiba's isolated world.

Still, Jou couldn't live with his father again. Kenji had only been back in his life for a month. It was one good month, and it did nothing to cure Jou of his fear. Being alone with the man in another apartment for a few minutes was enough to make Jou's skin crawl. Living with him just wasn't an option, at least not now. Besides, Kaiba would come visit Jou wherever he moved, and Jou needed to keep him and Kenji as far away from each other as he could.

Jou finished his food quickly then left the place with Kenji. Alarm bells went off in his head the second they came to a stop in front of a sports car.

"Pretty neat, huh? And it's all yours," Kenji said, tossing the keys at Jou. Jou didn't catch them, letting them fall to the ground as he stared at the car.

"Where did you get this?" He whispered, the previously quiet voice in his head coming out, warning him that the car was stolen, and that he was about to get in a lot of trouble…trouble that Kaiba would be furious about, especially after finding how Kenji's true identity. He might even fire Jou and end things over Jou being so reckless.

"From a friend. If you're just gonna stand there and be stunned by her beauty, then I'm drivin'," his father said.

"I ain't riding that thing. I don't know where you got it, but I ain't got no one to bail me out if things go South."

Kenji chuckled. "We've got the entire neighborhood to bail us out, or did you forget you used to get arrested twice a week back in the day?"

Jou grimaced. This had been his life. It was familiar and comfortable even, but something about it felt so wrong. "My boss would fire me."

Kenji rolled his eyes before jumping in the driver's seat. "Come on, Katsuya. Live a little."

Jou gulped, hesitating a little before getting into the passenger's seat. It couldn't be that long of a drive, and what are the odds that something would go wrong the first time he decided to go a little crazy in a whole year?

Nobody stopped their car, but as his father neared their destination, Jou's apprehension only increased. They were in a nice neighborhood, a great neighborhood, a neighborhood his father would never have been able to afford under normal circumstances.

When Kenji pulled up in front of a mansion that rivaled Kaiba's, Jou did a double take.

This was bad.

It only got worse when he exited the car and his old buddies swarmed around him. They clapped him on the back and practically pushed him into the place, eventually leading him to the pool where they shoved him into the water and jumped in with him, pulling him down into the water as he fought to breach the surface.

He tried to tell them to stop, but they weren't listening. They kept going until he'd swallowed too much water and started choking. It was too much, the touching, the water, the noise. It wasn't anything different than what they used to do as young teenagers, but the prospect of him staying there or them being arrested and spending the night in jail again was suddenly a lot more horrible than it used to be.

He wanted to be back home with Kaiba, in the safety of his arms, or with Yugi or Tristan in their homes with friends who actually respected his boundaries and stopped teasing him when the jokes got out of hand, who had his back no matter what.

When Jou finally managed to pull himself out of the pool, he ran into an empty room so he could call Kaiba to come pick him up. Only his cellphone was drenched and unusable. His heart sank. He didn't think the buses operated out here, and he didn't want to be anywhere near the area for a minute longer.

He ran around the house, going toward the areas where there was no noise and stopping to look for a landline. He finally found one in the basement. He searched around for the light switch using nothing but his sense of touch in the darkness.

Finally, he found it and the basement was illuminated. He sighed in relief, glancing around the room before looking down at the phone. He froze before he could dial, his mind having processed what he'd just seen. Slowly, he lifted his head again, his eyes scanning every inch of the room from the riffles on the wall to the glocks ans bullet boxes on the table. They were everywhere. Jou's blood ran cold. So, this was how Kenji had been able to afford the car and the house.

Jou dialed Kaiba's number as fast as he could, internally begging him to pick up.

"Who is this?" Came Seto's voice, laced with irritation.

"It's me," Jou whispered. "You were right. Fuck, I was so stupid. I never should've met up with him."

Kaiba's breath hitched. "Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, but I just gotta get outta here now. Can you please send someone?"

The sound of a laptop shutting echoed through the phone. "Get out of the house but don't hang up so I can trace the landline. Stand somewhere people can see you. I'll be there soon."

"Seto just send someone else. You have a meeting in ten minutes, and it's an important one."

"Don't worry about that. Just leave the house and wait in public."

Jou sighed. "Okay."

He left the phone dangling by its chord as Seto instructed and looked around the basement trying to find a way out. He wasn't about to use the front door and risk having to deal with Kenji and their old friends. His eyes landed on a small window in the corner of the basement, and he decided it would have to do, stacking a couple of boxes on top of each other until he was able to reach and climb through.

He crawled across the garden outside then ducked behind some bushes, making sure he sat at an angle that was obscured from the people in the house. When a limo arrived, Jou jumped in right away, rolling up the window and breathing a sigh of relief.

"They're saying they'd like to push the deadline to next Thursday," Mokuba said from where he was sitting at the side, headphones on and his laptop in his lap.

"Tell them I've worked on an almost identical prototype, and it only took me two weeks to finish. There was one of me then and four of them now. If they can't finish it by the end of the day, they'll all be out of a job," Seto took him then turned toward Jou with a concerned expression.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jou said before glancing at Mokuba.

"He can't hear us," Seto said. "He's attending the meeting virtually on my behalf."

Jou slumped back in his seat. "Oh…he tries to hide it, but I can tell he always gets upset when I talk about my father."

Kaiba frowned, nodding. "Gozaburo did a real number on him. Our father was a very kind man. Mokuba didn't know that a parent could be cruel, but I was older and…well, you know you can always talk to me. I won't get upset."

Jou swallowed. Seto would surely get upset if he told him the full truth. "I really thought he changed this time. God, I was so stupid."

"You're not stupid. Some people change, but…most don't. All we can do is learn how to tell between them and not let our hopes cloud our judgment."

"Seto, they're asking if you approve the new design for the solidify technology."

Kaiba pressed his lips into a thin line. "Remind these morons that the duel disk is for children. They need to send a design that takes less than two minutes for me to understand. Otherwise, it's too complicated."

Jou closed his eyes. "Sorry I'm keeping you from your meeting."

"Don't apologize," Kaiba said firmly. "Listen…I was thinking we could go to Yugi's place and unwind tonight if you want. I know we agreed to spend the night together, but you always said Yugi was the most comforting, and I'd understand if you want to spend some time with him."

Jou's mouth hung open. "Wait, are you seriously giving up having sex with me so we can go spend the evening with my friends?"

Kaiba grimaced. "It's not my preference, but if it would make you feel better-"

"I told you what I want, Seto. I'm not changing my mind now," Jou said, placing his hand over Seto's.

Kaiba smiled, squeezing Jou's hand then leaning in for a chaste kiss. "I can't wait."

Jou showered twice and spent a whole hour trying to decide what to wear before he gave up and went with the first outfit in front of him. It didn't matter anyway. He'd take off the clothes soon enough. He took a deep breath before making his way to Kaiba's room and entering.

Seto jumped where he was sitting on the bed, shoving something under his pillow and glaring at Jou. "Don't you knock?"

Jou grinned. "What have you got there?"

Seto blushed, stammering something incomprehensible, and Jou's stomach fluttered. If whatever he was hiding was getting this kind of reaction out of Kaiba, it had to be good.

"Oh, come on! Show me. We said we wouldn't keep secrets from each other anymore."

Jou tried to get to the pillow, but Seto threw himself on top of it, stopping the blonde's advances.

"Fine! It's porn, okay? Are you happy?"

Jou blinked twice. He'd been in Seto's room a thousand times, and had snooped through his stuff more times than he could count. He had never come across anything like that. Even as his secretary, he'd seen all there was to see on Kaiba's laptop. Seto had hidden those kinds of things so well that Jou had wondered if Kaiba wasn't into them at all. His curiosity piqued, but he knew Kaiba would never let him take a look, so he did the only thing he could: distract Kaiba with a deep, long kiss that had Seto closing his eyes and sighing in content. When Seto moved into a standing position to lean further into the kiss, Jou moved, grabbing the book from underneath the pillow, only to frown at the title.

The Art of Comforting: What to Say and Do for People in Distress

Jou burst out laughing, and Seto's face reddened further as he grabbed the book out of Jou's hand and shoved it into his nightstand.

"Not a single word about this. Ever."

Jou tried to stop laughing, but he couldn't help himself. "Why would you even buy somethin' like that?"

Kaiba mumbled something, turning away from Jou.

"What?"

"Dr. Takashi said it would help."

The response only made Jou more confused until he remembered…Kaiba had told him he was in therapy. He was trying to be a better boyfriend for Jou, and Jou was laughing in his face.

"That's really sweet of you," he said, reaching out to take Seto's hand in his. "But you're plenty comforting."

Kaiba smirked. "The first sentence of that book is not to comfort someone by telling them a lie. You suck at this."

"Ok, maybe emotions ain't really your strong suit, but you don't have to change that. I like you the way you are. Besides, you've already come so far. If this had happened six months back, you woulda yelled me outta the room. At least we know how to talk about things now. You don't gotta try so hard."

Kaiba chuckled. "Well, that's the worst precedent to set given what we're about to do."

Jou leaned in and gave Kaiba a deep, passionate kiss, keeping their foreheads together even after they pulled apart. "I have a feelin' you won't need to try that hard."

"Can I take you to bed now? This has been the worst foreplay session of my life."

Jou snickered. "How about we skip the whole questions thing today, and I'll just tell you if something isn't working for me?"

Kaiba smiled, giving Jou no warning before lifting his boyfriend and laying him gently on the bed. He unbuttoned his own shirt as he climbed on top of Jou, kissing down his boyfriend's neck.

Jou gave a soft moan. "Seto…"

"Mr. Kaiba, there was a slight security breach. There's a man at the front door who won't leave, and we need your permission to exercise greater measures," came a muffled voice from the intercom on the wall. Jou clenched his hands in frustration. Of all the fucking times that there could be a security breach…

Kaiba groaned, burying his face in his hands before he climbed off of Jou and went to the window, parting the curtain and looking down. Jou waited for a few seconds before he glanced at his boyfriend, wondering what was taking him so long.

Seto's face was paler than Jou had ever seen it, his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. He took two steps away from the window before yanking his drawer open and pulling out a gun.

"Whoa! Whoa! What're ya gonna do with that?" Jou asked jumping off the bed and trying to block Kaiba's path. Seto eventually sidestepped him and opened the bedroom door.

"Do not leave this room!" he said before slamming the door shut. Jou all but ran toward the window, peeking down at the area in front of the entrance. His heart dropped. Kenji was standing right in front of the house arguing with the security guards, and from the look on Kaiba's face, he'd recognized the man from the last time he'd seen him. There wasn't a doubt in Jou's mind. Kaiba was going to kill Kenji.

Jou raced out of the room, stumbling down the stairs as fast as he could to get to the ground floor. He arrived just in time to see Kaiba outside the entrance with a tight grip around Kenji's throat.

"Seto, let him go!" Jou yelled, trying to pull Kaiba back. "Stop it! You're gonna kill him!"

Kaiba didn't give any indication that he'd heard him, and Kenji's face was starting to turn blue as he clawed around Kaiba's grip.

"Do something!" Jou yelled at the security guards. "You really wanna be witnesses to a murder? You'll both lose your jobs if he gets locked up for this."

It took all three of them to pry Kaiba off of Kenji, at which point he huffed, dislodged himself from their grip and ran inside with Jou in tow.

Jou froze, his eyes wide as soon as his boyfriend pulled out his cellphone. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm calling the police, and they're going to take him away like they should've done years ago."

Jou threw himself at Kaiba, yanking the cellphone out of his hand. Kaiba threw him a glare, but didn't try to take the phone back.

"You can't report him," he said breathlessly.

"Why?!" the brunette yelled, his eyes wild. "Why would you ask me not to? Is he holding something over you?"

"What? No."

"Do you still have feelings for this guy?"

"Of course not!" Jou said, realizing that Kaiba still didn't know that the 'abuser' was his father.

Kaiba shook his head and walked toward the landline. Jou followed his gaze and sped ahead, pulling the cord out of the wall. He knew he'd never win this. He couldn't prevent Seto from reaching a phone forever. But...he couldn't let the brunette tell the police.

"He's my father!" Jou cried out. There was no other explanation, no other excuse. It was either this or him and his father would both get hauled off by the cops, one going to jail, and the other being forced to testify about the most humiliating experiences of his life. No. That couldn't happen. He wouldn't let it.

"Stop lying to me! I know he's not your dad. I saw him raping you!" Kaiba shouted, placing the cord back into its socket and dialing the emergency number. Jou grabbed his arm, forcing Kaiba to meet his gaze. Seto searched his eyes for what seemed like hours before grimacing. Jou's heart sank. He shouldn't have been surprised that Kaiba would find him disgusting. The whole thing was revolting, but…he couldn't handle looking at Kaiba's face when his boyfriend had that expression.

"Jou, I still need to call the cops. I'm sorry, alright? I understand that he means….something to you, and you don't want to see him go, but I don't want to see you hurt."

"Then don't call the fucking cops! If you do they'll drag my ass to one of these small rooms and interrogate me about everything, and I don't want to talk about this in front of a bunch of strangers who are gonna look at me like I'm filth underneath their feet. Don't do this, Seto. I can't even think about it without…I can't testify. I won't. He's taken so much away from me. I couldn't control a single thing in my entire life for so long, and now I finally can. So, don't take that away from me, too. Please, please hang up."

For the first time in his life, Jou saw Seto Kaiba hesitate as the woman on the other end of the line asked, "Yes, how can I help you?" Seto's left eye twitched, then, to his surprise, Kaiba hung up the phone with a sigh, looking unsure of what he had done. Jou sighed in relief.

"Thank you. You're not going to regret this. He's not gonna come here again. I'll talk to him and make sure of it," he said and was about to do just that when Kaiba grabbed his arm.

"No! I don't want you alone with him. Ever. You can't be alone with him."

"How will we get him to leave, then? I sure as hell ain't letting you out there to choke him to death again."

Kaiba sighed. "I'll call more security guards to the yard to take him away, but until that happens you can't go out there."

Jou glanced outside then back at Kaiba, trying to gauge whether he'd go back on his word and shoot Kenji between the eyes.

"Would you come up with me?" Jou asked.

Kaiba gave him a slight nod. "Sure."

As they walked up the stairs again, Jou was already dreading the the big-ass fight waiting for them in Kaiba room.