Fixation

Chapter 13


Jou hated waking up in hospital rooms.

He shifted in his sleep, noticing, as always, that the sheets he was wrapped in didn’t feel like his. The narrow bed was too soft and his toes felt an edge where there should have been nothing but mattress and down comforter. Two strips of hair on his arms stung where surgical tape had been used to secure an IV, and to secure a bandage over his upper arm. The skin beneath the tape burned despite the drug induced fog that made everything else feel like a distant ache. Unfortunately, the burning sensation was familiar.

“Fucking latex,” he hissed, finally forcing his eyes to open. He examined the tape holding the IV down for a moment, then reached down with his spare hand to try to find the call button for the nurse. His hand brushed soft hair instead.

“Seto?” he asked, lifting his head up.

The other man didn’t budge. The brunette had fallen asleep on the bed, his arms folded around his suit jacket to form a make-shift pillow.

Jou caught himself smiling like a stupid teenager. Seto had stayed beside him all night. He took a moment to actually look at Seto, since he hadn’t dared to do anything more than steal a quick glance at him the previous day. It had been almost a decade since the morning he left Seto’s home, yet somehow the man asleep beside him looked just like the boy he remembered. Always dressed in suits, Seto looked like a man of twenty-five when they were teenagers, so Jou wondered if the other had just grown into the look he’d always maintained. There were a few subtle differences. Seto’s hair was a bit shorter, his shoulders a bit broader, and Jou was surprised to find that his trademark smirk had softened and he even had faint wrinkles upon his cheeks—evidence that the prick might have learned how to actually smile.

Jou reached over the wake the brunette up when something else caught his eye. The angle Seto was sleeping at made the collar of his dress shirt and undershirt hover over his neck, revealing a tiny portion of the other man’s back. On Seto’s pale skin, Jou saw the unmistakable dark lines of a tattoo. Not just a tattoo, but a large tattoo, from the looks of it.

Careful not to move his legs, Jou sat up and raised the collar of Seto’s shirt. From there, Jou could clearly see the black form of a Chinese dragon’s head with a single burning red eye. What looked like a scaled white claw wrapped around the black dragon’s chin. Jou gasped at the sight, impressed with the detail in the dragon’s scales. The scales of the black dragon were outlined in the same bright red as its eyes, and the scales of the white outlined in blue, making even the little bit Jou could see sparkle. Aside from where the design obviously borrowed their trademark Duel Monsters design, there was something familiar about the dragons.

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” said Seto. His voice sounded wide awake, although he hadn’t moved or opened his eyes.

Jou opened his mouth to shout the first retort that came to him, but he shut it again and stared at the other man critically. “Not a chance, Kaiba. It may be beautiful, but it’s not enough to make you irresistible.”

Seto sat up straight and stared at Jou with surprise. “Of course it’s beautiful—you designed it. And I was irresistible before, I am Seto Kaiba after all.”

“I don’t design tattoos, Kaiba.”

“I copied your work,” Seto explained honestly. “When I began looking for you, so did Nakamura-san. She showed me the mosaic, and the sketches from the design. Of course, one could say you copied Pegasus’ work in creating it, but since I own the copyright it’s not a big deal.”

“That tattoo came from the walkway I made? No way! I’ve got to see it, come on.”

“Like I said, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

“I don’t have any tattoos.”

“What? None?”

“Nope. I’ve had to go through my share of background checks. Everything has to be explained for those, including every single tattoo.”

“You’re kidding. Why?”

“Gangs, mostly. Nearly every gang in the States puts their own tattoo on members. The first time I interviewed for a job as a cop there was a prison guard on the panel who was an expert in gang tattoos.”

“Ah. I always figured they were pretty mainstream in America, guess not for everybody…”

Jou chuckled. “More mainstream than here. Kaiba, do you know what people would say if they found out you’ve got that?”

Kaiba rolled his eyes. “Some things are worth the risks. The worst that could happen is the media finds out and reports that I’m gay, a hooligan, or a Yakuza crime lord and parents stop buying my games for their kids because I’ll corrupt them. It’s not that bad.” Seto leaned back and shook out his suit jacket.

“Not that bad? It would ruin Kaiba Corp!”

Seto shook his head slowly. “I don’t think it would. I think I’d have to step down as CEO, and that Mokuba would have to take over, but I don’t think it would ruin Kaiba Corp. It would mean I’d have to retire and live off of stock dividends for the rest of my life, maybe buy a backpack and go hide out in the mountains until the media storm blows over. I’ve always wanted to try backpacking for the weekend, anyway. I’m having trouble seeing a down side, in fact.”

Jou couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Seto was willing to sacrifice the career he’d spent his entire life building for the sake of a tattoo? This was definitely not the Seto Kaiba he remembered. And he’d said… “Wait a minute! Buy a backpack? Like a backpacking backpack? You want to go hike into the mountains and hide from the news crews? Who the hell are you and where’s Seto Kaiba?”

“Is it that hard to believe?” Seto laughed at him.

“Yes. I cannot believe that you could live without your precious technology for more than five minutes! Even if you tried, you’d cheat with a satellite phone or something—you’d probably have your dinner flown out on a chopper.”

“You don’t think I can handle camping?” Seto rose to his feet, his voice dripping with anger. Jou noticed the anger didn’t quite make it to his face. The other man wore his usual smirk, but his eyes were smiling.

“I’ll tell you what, let’s make it a bet. I’ll bet you… three hundred shares of Ally Solutions stock that I can survive camping out without technology for at least as long as you can.”

“What!” Jou’s rage erupted out of nowhere, propelling him forward towards the brunette before his conscious brain caught on to what was happening. He caught Seto by the throat and pulled himself up to his knees by using his grip on Seto as leverage. “How dare you! Ally Solutions is mine, you bastard! I’m not going to be tricked into giving you a piece of it just so you can rip it apart, so whatever the hell you’re planning, you had better rethink it right now or I swear I’ll hurt you!”

Seto’s hands pulled at Jou’s fingers, clawing at the skin to try to loosen Jou’s grip. “Too hard…” Seto rasped, his cheeks going pale. “Katsuya stop…”

The sound of Seto saying his name brought him back to reality like a slap to the face. He loosened his grip on the brunette immediately, and as soon as he did so Seto knocked his arm away and grabbed his wrist, letting his arm’s momentum twist Jou around. Seto got a hold of his hand and bent his wrist in a gooseneck. He held the painful joint lock until Jou stopped struggling. Jou trembled as he realized how badly he’d just screwed up. He felt Kaiba’s chest press against his back as Kaiba tightened the gooseneck to hold him still. Soft lips brushed over the shell of his ear and warm, panting breath tickled his ear, making his squirm despite the pain.

“Let’s get this straight. Your company is publicly traded, Katsuya, just like mine. I’m sure you still own a majority of the stock, just like I do. The difference is, I have a diverse portfolio. I already own over a thousand shares of your stock. I like to reward companies that have been of service to Kaiba Corp, and Roland had nothing but good reports of Ally Solutions. It seemed like a sound investment. I was going to bet my stock, not try to take control of your company from you, you psychotic Mutt!”

Jou breathed a bit easier, but Seto didn’t release the joint lock.

Teeth bit into his ear lobe hard enough to sting, then a warm tongue covered the bite and roamed up the shell of his ear.

Jou felt his world spinning. The pain in his arm, the pain in his ear, and the helplessness of not being able to move were overwhelming. Some part of his brain told him that the medication was dulling his senses, slowing his reaction time and making him act like a pathetic wimp. But when he felt Seto’s tongue trace the shell of his ear again, everything narrowed to that single point of sensation, sending a tremor through his entire body. Despite the added pain from changing his posture, Jou let his head fall back, giving Seto more access to his neck. Through the drug-induced mental fog, Jou was vaguely aware of a low moan that sounded like it was coming from his own throat.

“Please stop,” Jou begged, his voice high and cracking.

“No. Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed fighting with you? Or what I used to fantasize about doing to you every time I pinned you to the ground?” The tongue found its way to the back of Jou’s neck, snaking its way down to Jou’s jaw line and back up again. Seto’s narrow hips ground against his ass, revealing just how turned on the brunette was. And that Jou wasn’t wearing anything under the open-backed hospital gown.

“You are so hot like this… All I’d have to do is twist your arm a little, shove you down on to the mattress, and I’d have the perfect angle. If I hold this wrist lock while I fuck you, I bet you’ll cum screaming my name within a minute.

Jou swallowed hard, ignored how turned on the pain in his wrist, Kaiba’s tongue, and Kaiba’s promises were making him. It was harder to ignore the rhythmic way Seto was grinding against him. He fought to keep his breathing steady, to get control over himself. “Never had you pegged for a sadist, Kaiba,” he muttered. He was humiliated by how wanton his own voice sounded at the moment.

A cold hand slipped inside his hospital robe and caressed his lower back, his hip, and then slipped around and trailed up and down along his erection without hesitation. Jou couldn’t stop a hoarse cry escape that sprang from his own throat as Seto’s fist closed around him, squeezing him hard.

“I don’t get off by hurting you, Jou. But I love seeing just how hot I can make you. Just hearing you moan is enough to make me hard. And I put a lot of effort into figuring out just what it takes to get you this worked up.”

A steady beep from the cardiac monitor attached to the IV pole sounded. There on the monitor was ample proof of how strong of an affect Seto had on him. His heart rate had jumped from the mid fifties to over a hundred and twenty beats per minute.

“Damn. I guess I’ll have to drag you home and chain you to my bed after all.” Seto’s lips returned to Jou’s neck for a moment, kissing and licking in time with the silent spikes on the monitor. He gave Jou’s cock a firm stroke, then released Jou’s wrist, physically spun him around and pushed him back into bed. Jou pulled sheets and blankets up around himself and took several deep breaths, trying to calm down. A quick glance at Seto told Jou that the brunette wasn’t doing much better. He tucked a very obvious erection under his waist band, then let out a huff when he noticed it was still obvious. Jou swallowed a laugh and tossed Seto his suit jacket. He pulled the jacket on and was buttoning it up as the door opened and a nurse rushed in with a blood pressure cup. Seto strolled towards the window, turning the blinds and staring through the slats with his back to them.

The nurse paused when she saw that Jou was fine, slowed her pace, and smiled. Hios heart rate was back down in the fifties. “Good morning, Jounouchi-san. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Flashback,” Jou lied pathetically. “I’m afraid I panicked when I woke up and didn’t recognize the room. I nearly strangled Kaiba before I realized who he was. He might need medical attention.”

“I am fine,” Seto insisted, without turning away from the window.

The nurse’s smile melted into a look of adoring sympathy. “This must be so difficult for you, Jounouchi-san. We seldom see such decorated officers here, but we will try to keep any surprises to a minimum. If you will permit me, I will take your blood pressure and temperature, then let your doctor know that you are awake.”

“Decorated officers?”

“Of course. Half of the Domino Police Department is outside waiting for news of your recovery.”

When the nurse was finished, Seto turned back towards Jou, his eyes blazing. Jou noticed the pink marks in the distinctive shape of his own hands forming around Seto’s neck. Small red spots were forming in the whites of Seto’s eyes where the pressure change had caused the tiny blood capillaries in his eyes to rupture. Jou felt his stomach sink as he realized how badly he had just screwed up. He was lucky Seto hadn’t beat the crap out of him for what he’d done. Of course, if Seto got that tuned on every time they fought, it might end up leading to the most incredible sex of his life, but he really didn’t want to think about that right now. He needed to apologize before Seto really did attack him.

Before he could say anything, the door opened again. Seto turned back towards the window, but the door only opened a foot or so. “Katsuya-kun,” Nakamura said without sticking his head through the door, “May I come in?”

“Nakamura-sensai? Cool! Come in! Come in! I wasn’t really myself yesterday, but I’m glad you’re my doctor. Come in!”

“Have you had a good morning, Katsuya-kun? Oh, Kaiba-sama, hello,” Nakamura bowed to both of them. The doctor didn’t look surprised to see Kaiba there. His eyes scanned Kaiba’s suit curiously. “You stayed the night?”

“I wanted to make sure Jou didn’t disappear.” Seto mumbled, turning back towards the conversation despite his desire for discretion.

“Of course, Kaiba-sama.”

“Thank you for taking such good care of him.”

“Not at all, Kaiba-sama. You pay me a retainer to keep you healthy. For the first ten years I worked for you, you only interacted with two people in this world like a normal human being. Since Katsuya-kun was the only one who was not a blood relation, I consider maintaining his health to be a component in maintaining your health. If you ever made other friends, I’d have done the same for them.”

“And you’re still wrong,” said Jou, his accent thick, “Kaiba doesn’t have friends, just different types of enemies. And nursemaids to clean up any kind of mess he makes, of course.”

Nakamura-sensai chuckled softly. “We’ve exhausted that topic already, and you know my views on it.”

“We were rivals, not friends.”

“Katsuya, as far as Kaiba-sama’s concerned, you could never have been his rival. Your intelligence, while statistically equal to Kaiba-sama’s, would have been very difficult for Kaiba-sama to recognize and impossible for him to respect. He could not have seen you as a rival. I maintain that while you two were in school, he never viewed you as anything except a friend or romantic interest.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course my interest is romantic, Jou’s gorgeous. But there is no way the Mutt’s as smart as I am. Smarter than all of those other losers we went to school with, sure, but you can’t be suggesting that his IQ is comparable to mine.”

“It wasn’t a suggestion, Kaiba-sama, it was a statement of fact. He took the same college placement tests you did, and his scores were roughly equal to yours.”

“I took them at age twelve,” said Kaiba, his tone nonchalant.

“And he took them after going through his entire education so visually impaired that he was nearly blind.”

That seemed to catch Kaiba off guard. He folded his arms defensively across his chest.

“It’s kind of you to stick up for me, Doc, but I’m always going to be a stupid Mutt in Kaiba’s head. Could you get this damn tape off, though? The rash is really starting to bug me.”

“That’s right,” Nakamura scribbled a note on his clipboard. “I’m sorry I didn’t check your admission report, I’d have noted the allergy. Here, let’s get the IV out and then I’ll change the dressing for one that’s latex free.” Nakamura removed the tape and pulled the IV out, pressing a cotton ball into Jou’s arm while he did. He held the cottom ball tight for a moment but didn’t tape it down.

While Doctor Nakamura was fumbling through the supplies in the room, Kaiba’s glare softened into an evil smirk. He strolled closer to the bed and whispered, “I thought I told you that you were right about the dog comments.”

Jou felt the blush start at his stomach and work its way up like lava in a volcano.

The doctor eventually had the nurse bring in a clean gauze pad and an ace bandage to cover the stitches in Jou’s arm. “I’ll have the nurse bring you some cortisone cream for the rash at the IV site, but you can’t apply anything near the stitches.”

“It’ll go away on its own in a few hours,” Jou assured him.

“Alright. Now, Kaiba-sama…” Doctor Nakamura turned to the other man, his eyes concerned.

“I knew he was smart,” Seto insisted, before the doctor could say anything. “How else could he have slept through every class, not done any homework, and still gotten average grades?”

“I wasn’t asleep through all of them,” said Jou. “Most of the time it hurt to look at the board, so I just shut my eyes.”

“You snored.”

Jou couldn’t help laughing. “Alright, so I was asleep. None of it was that interesting, you know.”

“You two really are well suited for each other,” said Nakamura shaking his head in resignation. “But that wasn’t what I was going to say. If you have trouble breathing, swallowing, speaking, or feel faint, please call me immediately. Katsuya-kun, I have no doubt that he provoked you, but you should try to exercise a bit more self-control. You both should. I swear if I get called in the morning to set broken bones and you’re both suddenly acting smug, I am going to resign.”

Jou was knew the blush on his face was almost as intense as the one Kaiba was sporting.

“You’re free to go as soon as the nurse get the discharge paperwork together. Sakura said that I’m to tell you to stay out of trouble and that she hopes you’re well.”

Jou smiled brightly. He was never one to accept charity lightly, but Sakura had disguised her crusade to help him as domestic incompetence and given him a job. It was the only help his teenage pride ever allowed him to accept, and since it came at a time when he desperately needed some way to help his dad make ends meet, it had been a lifesaver. “Tell her I said hello, and that I always stay out of trouble.”

Nakamura tisked. “It’s not nice to tell lies, Katsuya. But I’ll tell her you said hello. If you feel faint or light-headed again, call me. The number will be on your discharge instructions, although it hasn’t changed in all this time. And remember,” Nakamura glanced at Seto, who was still standing there blushing, “No physical exertion for at least two days.”

“I can’t laze around,” Jou insisted. “Someone is trying to kill me. I don’t know for sure who, but they followed me all the way from California to do it. I can’t afford to get lazy now.”

“Oh,” Nakamura looked concerned. “Do you have anyone you can contact to provide security? Perhaps you could hire a bodyguard?”

Jou chewed on his lower lip for a moment. “I am a bodyguard. But an associate is here to keep an eye on me, too. He’s one of the best in the business.”

“Well,” Nakamura nodded, “I suggest you follow his advice then.”

“His advice,” Kaiba cut in, “was that you accept my help.”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t remind me.”