Fixation

Chapter 19


Jou parked Seto’s BMW convertible along a middle-class side street and checked the built in GPS again. He double-checked the address against the list he’d compiled from Kaiba Corp’s phenomenally friendly Human Resources secretary and nudged Mario. “It’s two down. You coming?”

Mario shook his head and settled back into a comfortable, reclined nap. “No. The first ten were interesting. The next five got kind of freaky. Now the shock has worn off and I’m just bored. Although I could definitely get used to these seats… I’m going to enjoy the sunshine, take a nap, that kinda thing.”

“Slacker.” Jou put on a pair of reading glasses, grabbed the report’s notebook he’d purchased this morning, and jumped out of the car. He used to walk to the house to get his head straight. He had to look friendly and unassuming. He had to look innocent. He had to look like he hadn’t thrown up three times already today. Most of all, he had to look surprised when he got the answer he was looking for.

The house was like all of the others around it. Two stories, built in a western-style, with a small courtyard side-garden and a short balcony suspended from the second floor. An older woman in jeans and a sweatshirt opened the door and glared at him suspiciously.

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” said Jou with a bright smile, “I hope I’m not disturbing your dinner?”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Jounouchi Katsuya, I’m a freelance writer. I’ve been hired to write a biography of Kaiba Gozoboro. When I was reviewing Kaiba-sama’s personal papers, I came across the name Ihara Yukito. He was mentioned as a personal bodyguard to Kaiba-sama and a great confidant and friend. I found this address for him on the internet and I was hoping I might be able to talk to him about his years of service to Kaiba Gozoboro. Is he home?”

“Did that upstart brat hire you to write about his step-father?” The woman tried her best to look down at him. That was a difficult feat as he was a foot and a half taller than her.

“I was hired by the Kaiba Gozoboro Engineering Fellowship,” Jou lied. Mentioning the current Kaiba Corp was obviously not the way to go this time.

She relaxed slightly. “Well… So long as that ingrate didn’t send you. I’m sorry, Mr…”

“Jounouchi,” he said helpfully.

“Yes. I’m sorry, but my husband passed away many years ago.”

Jou let his smile fall slowly. He tired to get a shocked and sad look on his face. “Oh, I am so sorry,” he bowed low, from the waist. “How long ago did he pass away?”

“It will be five years on the tenth of next month,” she said stiffly.

“I am very sorry. If it wouldn’t be too painful, do you think I might be able to talk to you about him? I’d love to know what type of man he was, what his days on the job were like.”

Jou saw a mix of rage and pain flash through the woman’s eyes, but before Jou could press her further, she dropped her gaze and stepped back behind her front door. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I have the strength to discuss my husband, or the pig he worked for. Good afternoon.”

The door slammed in his face and a moment later he heard the sound of a deadbolt sliding shut. Jou sighed and strolled back towards the car. That was twenty-two dead. It was nearly four-thirty, and Jou had run out of local addresses to check. He didn’t want to do something like this on the phone, that would really make him feel like an ass. Since he hadn’t found a single former Kaiba Corp security guard who was still alive, he felt confident that he could take Tanaka at his word.

Mario opened his eyes when Jou jumped back into the car. “Another grief-stricken widow?”

“As grief-stricken as a woman can be when she was obviously terrified of her own husband, yeah.”

“Damn,” Mario shook his head. As Jou started the car, Mario drew a line through the name on their list. “Is there some specific number your boyfriend’s got to reach before he’s officially a serial killer?”

Jou carefully pulled the car over again a block later.

“Sorry, sorry,” Mario said quickly. “I know this isn’t easy, I’m just trying to lighten the mood.”

“Mario, now is not the time.”

“Even after everything they… Jou, from what you described in that room, you’ve got to know what both of them must have gone through. Can you really blame them?”

Jou lay his head against the steering wheel and shut his eyes, fighting off another wave of nausea.

“The question is, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to go to them, or are you going to go to your friend Honda?”

Jou shook his head back and forth. He didn’t want to think about that. “What would you do?”

Jou felt a strong hand rubbing his back. “Do you really need to ask?”

“I really want to know, yes.”

“I wouldn’t do anything. But then, I’m no cop.”

“I’m not either, any more.”

Mario patted Jou’s shoulder slowly. “Oh, yeah you are, Joey. Did I ever tell you why Esme and me didn’t join the department together? We had planned on it, you know.”

“Hu?”

“I didn’t go to the new applicant testing because Esme told me that I didn’t have what it takes to be a cop, not inside. She told me there are only two types of people in the world, cops and everybody else. Let me ask you something… If someone hurt your family, Joey, hurt your kid sister… really bad and got away, and you were the first officer to catch him and he surrendered peacefully, what would you do? If you caught up to him alone, you had him down on his knees with his hands on his head… you had a clear shot and you knew you’d be doing the world a favor if you just put him out of his misery… what would you do? If you actually felt like you wouldn’t be able to go on living if you didn’t step over the line one time, in order to make the world a better place... Would you shoot the guy?”

Jou imagined himself in his old uniform, high strung from chasing someone, furious at the crime they’d committed, walking up towards them in the dark. He imagined ordering them to throw away a knife and put their hands on their head, watched as they obeyed. He held the imaginary man’s head in his sights and thought, for a single moment, about pulling the trigger. And then he felt like the pin from his badge was trying to stab straight through his body.

Jou half dove out of the car head-first and vomited on the pavement.

“I’d arrest him,” Jou panted. “If he’s on his knees, if he’s already down… I’d arrest him. If you shoot, if I shot, it’d be murder.”

“Yup. You’re a cop. It’s not something that you hang in the closet when you take off your uniform, it’s who and what you are. This might surprise you, Joey, but most people would shoot. Esme said the real difference between cops and everybody else is that cops are willing to walk up to that line every day, and every day they step back. Every day they trust in the system to make things right, even when the system makes mistakes and lets the same bad guys out over and over again. They really believe that if they break down than the whole system breaks. A real cop can put aside how sickening someone’s crimes are, how many people they’ve hurt, how disgusting they are, and arrest them when it would be so much easier... I could never make it as a cop.”

Jou let himself fall back into the driver’s seat, staring ahead at the quiet residential streets. Children in black school uniforms were walking home along the sidewalks. A row of cherry trees were in full bloom and every time the wind blew it sent a flower of peddles sprinkling down over the children. Jou remembered the cherry blossoms fondly as a child, but remembered that Honda always cursed when he saw them, since it was his job to clean them up out of his family’s yard.

Would Honda arrest Seto if he knew? Maybe he already knew and had decided not to. Jou cringed and shook his head. He couldn’t imagine making that decision in Honda’s place, even if it meant he’d have to arrest a friend. People were dead. Not innocent people, not even nice people from everything Jou had gathered today, but they were dead all the same.

“Joey, you’re over-reacting again. You don’t know that Kaiba is responsible, just that a lot of people with the same job in common died after her fired them all. From what I’ve been able to pick up from conversations, there are just as many people who would kill to protect your boyfriend as there are people who hate him.”

“I know that,” Jou hissed.

“It could actually be a lot of people. Put yourself in Roland’s position. You’re stuck working for a complete asshole who likes to hurt people and there’s nothing you can do about. He dies and suddenly you’re working for a little kid. Not just any kid, but one you stood by and did nothing to protect for four years. How far would you go to make things right again?”

“These guys were fired twelve years ago,” said Jou, trying to force his brain to be logical for a moment, “They died between four and six years ago. That’s twenty five deaths in a two year period of time, someone had to notice!”

“Kaiba’s entire staff seems to have noticed,” Mario reminded him. “They just don’t care.”

That was true, Jou knew. After he’d spoken with Tanaka last night, he returned to the kitchen for a second late night snack. Sure enough, as soon as he mentioned that he’d been offered the chance to replace Roland on Seto’s staff, he heard a horrific account of how everyone who works for the Kaibas will eventually die a horrible death. The cook was convinced that the ghost of Gozoboro took revenge on everyone who failed to protect him. Jou reminded the older lady that Gozoboro had killed himself, and she clamped her mouth shut and took his plate away. Apparently, logic took all the fun out of gossip.

He hadn’t been willing to face Seto that night. He checked to make sure that Seto’s transmitter was still in Mokuba’s room, then hurried to bed and pretended to be asleep when Seto arrived. He even left his bottle of pain killers out on the night stand, to force Seto into the assumption that he was in a drug-induced slumber. Seto hadn’t bothered trying to wake him up, but he had slipped into bed beside him and pulled him close, spooning his body around Jou’s.

At that moment, all Jou could think about was the blood stains and the panicked expression he’d seen in Seto’s eyes at the prospect of entering that room. He wanted to turn around and hold the other man tight, but he didn’t dare. The other man had always been able to read him so damn easily, Jou knew that Seto would only have to look into his eyes to see his doubts and fears clearly. When Jou woke up he found himself clinging to the arm wrapped around him as though his life depended on it.

It had still been dark out, so Jou slipped out of bed quietly and left Seto a note saying he was going to borrow a car and show Mario around Domino. By ten, he had a list of names and addresses from Kaiba’s staff and was determined to prove to himself that Tanaka-san had just been being dramatic about a coincidence. As he pulled up to the first apartment on the list, he had himself and Mario convinced that Tanaka was reading too much into things. But this was no coincidence.

“What am I supposed to do?” asked Jou, so torn that his stomach threatened to rebel again.

“That’s up to you, Joey. I think that you might want to give your lover the benefit of the doubt, though. Go talk to him. He might actually have an ethical explanation. Or this might be the first he’s heard of it. I know it’s hard not to assume the worst about everyone, but you’ve got to try not to this time.”

“Old habits,” Jou shrugged. “I got so used to thinking that everyone has to be guilty of something…”

“I know. But you’ve got to try and have a little faith this time.” Mario smiled at him and messed up his hair. “What’s the worst that could happen if you just talk to him?”

Jou stared at his friend seriously. Usually that was the type of line that would have Esme listing exactly how bad things could get. It felt appropriate somehow. “Well, he could be an insane serial killer who will torture and dismember us because we found out his secret.”

Mario shook his head and smiled. “No, no, no… If you’re going to live your life as a suspicious bastard, you’ve got to go all the way, Wheeler. The worst that could happen is that he could be an evil super villain who will destroy the world once you threaten to expose his serial killer activities. Maybe unleash holographic duel monsters on the city streets and stand on top of a tower laughing while they rip innocent citizens to pieces!”

Mario laughed but Jou froze. “He already did that…”

“What?”

“Yeah… Things went wrong with one of his simulators, some kind of sub-space rift thing happened… Suddenly the streets were filled with real monsters. He even helped stop them. It was on the news.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Jou started the car, trying not to laugh at the image of a teenage Kaiba standing on top of Kaiba Corp, laughing at the carnage his Duel Monsters were reaping on the city. “If you’re looking for super villain evidence, though, he had these trench coats that flared out just like capes. And he was the only seventeen-year-old I knew who had their own evil laugh copyrighted.”

Mario chuckled, but carefully folded the list of former employees up and slipped it into his breast pocket. After the day they had both had, they were likely to laugh at anything just to break the tension. It had been the same when Jou was a police officer. Sometimes the most inappropriate jokes in the world could have everyone at an accident scene laughing, despite the fact that they would have to wade through blood to get to what was left of a car. No one else would understand, but sometimes you just had to laugh things off and get on with the job at hand.

“Joey Wheeler is in love with a super villain…” Mario muttered again, laughing.

Joey drove back to the Kaiba mansion. He tried not to groan as the guards on the gate snapped to attention as he drove through. Word about the job offer had gotten around, and no one assumed Jou could do anything other than accept. He had heard guards whispering about some of his exploits as a bodyguard, including how he took a bullet for the one and only Chantel, and how he had already saved Kaiba’s life when they were fired on in the police department. They were already treating him like their boss.

As soon as Jou pulled into the garage, a maid greeted them and announced that they were expected for dinner. Jou quickly handed his notebook off to Mario and met the larger man’s gaze, trying to convey his terror at the thought of facing Seto. Mario pushed him after the maid. “Calm down,” Mario whispered in Spanish. “We’ll deal with it.”

The maid led them into the formal dining room, where Jou was surprised to see that Seto and Mokuba weren’t the only ones waiting for them. Around the table were all of Jou’s friends, and near the center of the table, between Otogi and Mokuba, was a beautiful woman with long red gold hair and a bright smile.

“Shizuka…” Jou whispered, hardly able to believe his eyes.

She jumped up from her seat and raced around the table, throwing herself into his open arms. “I can’t believe your really back! I was so surprised when Yugi called me!”

Jou held her close, amazed by how much she had grown to resemble their mother. The only thing about them that looked alike was their blonde hair. Shizuka had a beautiful oval face and their mother’s almond shaped eyes. “Look at you,” he whispered. “You’re all grown up!”

Shizuka pulled away from him and stared at him. “I’m not the only one! You look like a body builder, Jou. Come sit down, you’ve got to tell me everything you’ve been up to since you left!”

Jou still didn’t manage to move until Mario shoved him towards the table. Jou sat down, waving at Otogi, at Pegasus, and giving Mai a quick hug along the way. He felt like he was trapped in a river, struggling to swim against the current. The laughter of his friends and sister carried him away from his gruesome afternoon, and from the questions he knew he would have to ask Seto. For a few hours he laughed and talked and smiled like nothing was wrong at all.

As the evening wore on he found himself following each of his friends to the door to say goodbye. Something felt strangely final about bidding them all farewell, as though he were simply saying the goodbyes he should have said years ago instead of coming home again.

When Shizuka was ready to leave, she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. “You should stick around, Big Brother. I’ll be starting my residency at Domino General next fall, so I’ll be here all summer with nothing to do. We’ve got to spend time together like we used to.”

Jou smiled gently and hugged her. “I can’t believe you’re going to be a doctor next year… It’s weird just thinking about it.”

She shrugged. “You paid for that surgery right as I started high school,” she reminded him, “It inspired me. I can’t wait to be able to help people who can’t afford to see a doctor. I can’t do it the way you helped me, but I’ll manage anyway.”

“I’m proud of you, kiddo.” Jou kissed her on the forehead and waved as a cab driver helped her into a taxi. Jou watched the taxi pull away from the door, wondering if he would ever be able to make up for the years he missed with her. At the time, he had really thought leaving would be the best thing for everyone. And perhaps it had been. They had been toying with the idea of moving in together. Shizuka was going to move to Domino to attend high school, Jou was going to get a job and an apartment for them to live in. Would she have ever been able to go to medical school if she had?

A pair of strong slender hands grabbed his hips and circled his stomach. He let himself be pulled back into Seto’s firm, slender chest. He couldn’t help the way he moaned at the other man’s touch.

He felt Seto’s lips on his neck. “We’ve got to talk,” Seto whispered in his ear.

That surprised Jou a bit. That was what he was planning on saying. Did Seto know where he’d gone today? What he’d done? Jou wouldn’t be surprised if he did. The man had stalked him as a teenager, rearranging his class schedule and ignoring his job just to follow Jou around.

“What’s up?” Jou asked, tilting his head so give Seto more access to his neck. He brought his right hand up to caress the back of Seto’s head.

“It has been nearly twenty-four hours since I’ve touched you. I behaved myself all through dinner, but now I’m starting to suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Come to bed?” Jou nearly collapsed as Seto sank his teeth into his neck.

Jou let himself be guided upstairs. Seto was acting remarkably gentle, and Jou found himself yearning for his lover’s usual aggression. He desperately wanted to pretend that everything that exactly the way it had been five days ago, to feel the raw need that Seto radiated every time he took Jou.

Seto shut the door behind them and used his hands and lips to push Jou back towards the bed.

“Seto, wait a minute,” said Jou, as he felt himself fall back against the massive bed. “I need to ask you about something that’s been bugging me…”

“I was wondering when you were going to tell me what was wrong…” With a practiced hand, Seto undid Jou’s pants and pulled them down over his feet in a single, quick motion.

“I was wondering…” Jou tried to keep his breathing calm, but it was hard when Seto was already climbing between his legs. “If you could tell me why you panicked when…” Jou fell back onto his elbows as he felt something hard gently pushing its way inside of him. “That’s cold! What the hell is that!” Jou tried to scoot away but Seto placed a single hand on his shoulder, holding him in place.

“Trust me,” Seto whispered. “Just relax.”

After the last week, Jou was stretched enough that whatever Seto was trying to thrust into him slid in easily. It was ice cold, smaller than Seto’s cock, and felt metallic. Seto’s fingers followed the object inside of Jou’s body, pushing it a few inches deeper. Inside of him, Seto’s finger ran up the side of the object, brushing against his prostate gently. He smiled when Jou shuddered. “Perfect.”

Jou felt Seto’s fingers withdraw, leaving the small object inside of him. Jou glanced down to see what looked like a stereo wire poking out of his ass. The wire trailed up to something closed in Seto’s hand.

“Seto…”

Seto used his thumb to adjust the device in his hand.

Jou screamed as he felt the surge of constant pressure coursing through his prostate, and his entire body, from the device inside of him. It was such an intense, constant, and blinding pleasure that it bordered on pain. He threw his head back, trying his best not to adjust to the sensation and not cum all over Seto in an instant.

“Limp to orgasm in ten seconds,” Seto mused, fiddling with the controller in his hand again. The vibrations inside of Jou increased in intensity until all Jou could do was let out a frantic, endless scream before he exploded into Seto’s hand. After a moment, the vibrations faded until there was only a slight pressure, keeping Jou suspended in a state of insane bliss that he had never known before. “Definitely worth playing with. I can’t wait to try it while I’m inside of you.”

Jou tried to respond, he really did. He couldn’t quite form an actual word, but he tried.

“I suppose I should turn it off and give you a little break…” Seto turned the dial up instead. He stared down at Jou, smiling at him. Jou felt his entire body trembling, shaking with the sheer force of the ongoing stimulation. “But that is just too sexy… And it has you hard again already…”

Seto put the remote control on the bed and shed his clothing in a flash. He straddled Jou’s hips. Jou tried not to cum as Seto’s hands covered his cock with a cold, wet lube. He swallowed hard as Seto slowly guided his body down onto Jou’s cock. Seto gasped as he worked his way down until Jou was completely sheathed inside of him. “I… I can’t wait… to see your face…”

Jou managed to focus just long enough to see the wicked delight shining in Seto’s eyes before Seto reached for the remote control again.

When Jou woke up the next morning, he felt too numb to move. His ass still felt like it was tingling and his cock was actually sore from Seto riding it for so long. Every muscle in his body was limp and sluggish. The lack of a warm body spooned against his told him that Seto wasn’t in bed any more. He might have actually gone back to work today. He had mentioned something about sorting out new board members and interviewing for a replacement for his secretary over dinner, but Jou hadn’t really been paying attention. That meant he would have to wait until tonight to talk to Seto.

Jou wandered down stairs in search of friends or food. As so often happened, his stomach guided him to the kitchen where he discovered Seto’s cook had forgiven him for ruining her gossip fun two days earlier. He soon found himself straddling a stool at the kitchen island staring at a serving platter covered in bacon, eggs, ham, pancakes, waffles, and toast. The cook set down a basket of syrup and a plate of what looked like orange sweet rolls.

“Eat up, you’re too skinny.”

Jou thanked her and began to eat as much as he could manage.

“Besides, it’ll go to waste otherwise. I make breakfast for everyone in the house, every single day, but you and Mokuba are the only ones who eat it. I’m surprised your American friend doesn’t eat more, looking the way he does.”

Jou smiled. “He thinks that if he lets his body fat get to be over four percent that it will slow him down. He would be absolutely terrified of those rolls.”

The cook giggled and hurried about the kitchen again, putting away clean dishes.

“There you are, Jou!” a happy voice called form the door of the kitchen. Yugi bounded up and sat down at the island with Jou. “Good morning! Glad to see you’ve got your appetite back.”

“Yeah, right. I’m going to need help finishing half of this. Grab a plate, give me a hand.”

“Alright.” Yugi did just that, pulling a clean plate out of the cabinet and joining him. To Jou’s surprise, Yugi took roughly half of the buffet off his hands. “This looks good. I’m starving. So,” Yugi asked between bites of bacon, “Did you have fun last night?”

“Yeah, it was great seeing everybody again. I can’t thank you enough for inviting Shizuka.”

“Aw, it was no trouble. I think she was just glad that it wasn’t another attempt at setting her and Seto up.”

“Hm?”

“Mokuba’s been worried about his brother.” Yugi’s face took on a dark, serious expression. “Mokuba always worries about his brother. Since high school, he hasn’t really been interested in anybody. The only times he’s gone on dates are when Mokuba drags him out for pizza and invites somebody along.”

“Really? Moneybags eats pizza?”

Yugi snorted. “It’s gotta be rich pizza. Vodka sauce and artichoke hearts, stuff like that. You should have seen the look on his face when I suggested we order a regular pepperoni.”

“And you tried to set him up with Shizuka?”

“Yeah. It was Mokuba’s idea. He thought that, since Seto seemed to have a thing for blondes, that he might like her. He never did, of course. I don’t think she ever liked him either, so lately she’s been turning us down when we invite her to go hang out with us.”

“So, Yug’, I’ve got to know and Mokuba just changed the subject when I tried to ask him… You and Mokuba? How did that happen?”

Yugi looked down at his plate, picked up a triangle of ham with his fingers and shoved it into his mouth. “He found me at a bad point in my life,” said Yugi quietly. “After high school, I felt like I had lost everybody in the world. Yami, grandpa, Anzu, you… In a matter of two months everybody in my life disappeared.”

“Shit, I’m sorry about ‘dat…”

“You did what you had to, and you’re not responsible for my behavior. But, I got depressed. I got into things I shouldn’t have, trying to lose myself in pain and drugs. I ran around with a lot of people. I didn’t really care if they liked me or not, just so long as they could make it hurt enough to make everything go away… Mokuba found me in an S&M dungeon. I was on ecstasy at the time, so I don’t remember a whole lot… I just remember the pain stopped and there he was. Maybe it was just lucky timing, who knows. For a few months, he wouldn’t even let me out of his room. He was determined to give me whatever I needed, and to do it without the strangers, whips, and drugs.” Yugi looked up with a devious grin. “Not that there’s anything wrong with whips, of course.”

“And you stayed together?”

Yugi shrugged. “He’s incredible in bed. And he doesn’t care that I can’t give him my heart. Yami will always be first in my heart, and protecting Seto will always be first in his… But that doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun and enjoy each other.”

“You seem happy now. Are you still depressed?”

“Yes,” said Yugi honestly. “Being depressed isn’t a mood. It doesn’t mean that I can’t laugh or smile. I can be happy and still be depressed. I’m getting treatment for it, though, and Mokuba’s always there when I need him. I’ve hired people to run grandpa’s shop, too. It helps a lot, not having to work in the same store where he died.”

“I can’t imagine having to do that…” Jou thought about the day he found his father’s body. He had thought about going back to his old apartment building, but the thought sickened him. If felt wrong, like walking over someone’s grave.

“I should have stopped doing it years ago. It never got any better, as long as I was there.”

“So are you and Mokuba…” Jou didn’t even know how to phrase his question.

“Committed? Yes and no. We great friends, and we have a good time together, but we’re not opposed to having a good time with others. Actually, when you first got home, he suggested we invite you and Mario to join us… But, well, then you and Seto got together.”

Fucking Seto was the only thing that had saved Yugi from having to confront the idea of Yugi and sex head-on. He would have to thank Seto for that, later on.

“And Seto has already made it clear that he is not up for it, and he would feel left out if he weren’t involved.”

“Betrayed, you mean.” As Yugi’s words replayed in Jou’s head, he bit down hard on the crunchy slice of bacon in his mouth, trying not to choke on the shards. “Mokuba and Seto?” He felt his stomach twist and revolt at the idea.

Yugi giggled innocently. “This from the guy who bribed Vernon to buy that porn video with the twin red heads?”

“But they’re girls, that’s different.”

“Is it? Seto and Mokuba are both guys, so it’s not like one of them would get pregnant.”

“But they’re brothers. It’s gross.”

Yugi tilted his head slightly, like he was trying to see Jou’s point of view, but then shook his head slightly. “Personally, I think it would be incredibly erotic. They’re both beautiful, after all. And the taboo doesn’t spoil the mood for me at all.”

“Yeah, well you’ve gotten weird.”

“If it makes you feel any better, Mokuba didn’t offer because he wanted to sleep with his brother.”

“So it was just your kinky shit he was giving in to?”

“No! Well, a little… But, no, it wasn’t me. Mokuba just got to the point that he was so worried about Seto never showing an interest in anyone sexually that he was willing to try anything to help him. I know it sounds a bit extreme, but when Mokuba decided that his brother would never have to protect him again, he decided that the only way to do it was if they switched roles. Mokuba has done everything he can to take care of Seto since then. He’s not the rich little boy the whole world thought they could fuck with any more, and this secretary thing is the first headache Seto has had to deal with since.”

“But that’s incest…” said Jou, hesitant to even say the word aloud.

“Their the Kaiba brothers,” said Yugi, as though that explained everything. “No one in Japan has ever expected them to be normal. I take it… that means you definitely wouldn’t be interested in joining us?”

“Not an option,” Jou insisted, shaking his head rapidly. “I’ve always thought of you as a brother, anyway, and no matter how much of a bad ass he pretends to be, I’ll never be able to look at Mokuba without seeing an innocent ten year old. There’s no way!”

Yugi smirked. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

Jou grabbed one of the pile of sweet rolls. “I can’t believe how much Mokie’s changed… Seto is still exactly like I remember, but he’s the only thing here that hasn’t changed.”

“Oh, he’s changed, Jou. He shows feeling other that anger or misery on rare occasions.”

“So what are your plans for the day? Think you might have time to attack Seto’s video game collection with me?”

Yugi shook his head, his face sad. “Nah, I’ve got to work. I’m writing the back story for Kaiba’s new RPG, and I’m a couple weeks behind already. I have to bring in what I’ve got so the design guys can start doing sketches and storyboards to go with it. I’m going to be stuck at Kaiba Corp for most of the day.”

“Damn. Maybe another time, then.”

“Yeah, definitely. But if you’re board, between the two of us, Mokuba and I have three times as many games as Seto. They’re in the third closet in our room, if you want to go poke through them.”

“What kind of place has bedrooms with three closets?”

Yugi finished the last of the food off of his plate and reluctantly got up. “Three closets, one dressing room, one bathroom, a sitting room, a small dining room, and another bedroom that used to be Seto’s. It used to be the children’s suite, an apparently Gozoboro insisted they live, eat, sleep, study, and play in there so he would never have to be around them.”

Jou finished off the sweet roll thoughtfully. Would there be more disguised stains in Seto’s old bedroom? Would there be some hint of how he had survived Gozoboro? Something to tell Jou that Seto wasn’t a homicidal psychopath? “Have you got Resident Evil Five?”

Yugi nodded with a bright smile.

“I think I’ll have to pop in and check out what you’ve got.”