Pairing: Seto/Jou, Yami+Yugi
Beta: Jennie B. - The angel
Chapter three"I'm so not gonna do this."
"You will, and you will like it."
"Yami…" Jou gave the former pharaoh a pouty look. Yami laughed, but refused to give in.
"You look like a puppy with those sad eyes, and for your information, they don't work on me; they only seem to work with Kaiba."
"Yami!"
"Well, it's true. You tried so hard, and he finally fell for you."
Jou blushed as he looked away. It's not like it was true…right? Well…he supposed that it had been true that during his years in high school, he had tried to gain the attention of the aloof brunette, but now he didn't really care anymore. At least, that was what the blonde had tried to convince himself. "How do you know he 'fell' for me, Yami?"
"Come on Jou! Yugi and I were the ones that encouraged you to try. And, for as long as I have known Seto, he has never given so much attention to anyone besides his brother, like he does to you. Of course he loves you!"
"Bullshit."
"You are quite stupid when you want sometimes, ne?"
Jou sputtered indignantly. Then, he crossed his arms stubbornly. "Well, I'm still not doing it."
"Stop being such a pussy and let's go."
"Yugi would be surprised to hear you using that kind of language."
"He likes the way I talk. In fact, when I talk like this to him, he likes it a lot," Yami teased.
"No details, please."
Yami smirked and both went out to the garden.
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Seto blinked at what he saw. And then, he blinked again. "Jou?"
"Yami made me do it."
The glade in the garden had been changed into a big battle arena. The small trees formed something like a barricade around them. But, despite the huge transformation, that was not what Seto was looking at. He was staring at the blonde's outfit.
Jou was wearing a pair of fitted dark leather pants that molded to his body like a second skin, and a white casual shirt that had been mostly unbuttoned. A lovely blush adorned the cheeks.
The blonde was looking, in actuality, quite fuckable.
"Yami made you do what?" the brunette finally asked, waking from his daydream.
"The arena…the clothes," the blonde whispered in return. "He thought it would do us some good to remember the old times and make us duel."
"He thought so?" Silently, Seto thanked the former pharaoh for the clothes that were currently on Jou's body.
"Yeah…" Slowly, his embarrassment was fading and the blonde smiled a little. "Think you're up for the challenge, Kaiba?"
The azure eyes stared at him. "I can beat you to the ground in my sleep."
"Well, we will see."
Not far away, Yugi was quietly watching them, and he giggled when he saw the looks they were exchanging. Standing next to his hikari, Yami smiled approvingly. He had always noticed how happy they had looked when dueling. Maybe doing so again would make their pain fade away, even if it was just a little bit. He needed that to happen in order to make his plan work.
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"Give up."
"Never."
"I don't want to crush you and your pathetic monsters."
"Well, that will never happen. Do you think you've already won?"
"I know I have."
"You wish."
The amber and azure eyes were locked on each other. What had started out as a simple duel was slowly changing into something more, and both duelists could feel it, but neither one would ever admit it. They were standing quite close together; far too close for a proper duel, and as a result, a lot of the ground around them had been destroyed. Seto himself had fought a lot of duels in his short life, but the thrill he was feeling at that moment could not compare to any of them. This was more…it felt more like hunting.
Normally, Jou didn't like being pursued like that. It scared him because he felt as though he'd been hunted his whole damned life. But now…he was delighting in being the brunette's prey. Shivers ran down his spine, and he was this close to simply giving up and surrendering to his opponent.
"Quit now," Seto said, showing the Blue Eyes card he held in his hand.
"No." The shaky reply was accompanied by the summoning of the Red Eyes card.
"You can't defeat me."
"I can."
The white dragon's blue eyes seemed to glow in the morning light, and the white lightning beam attack threw the black dragon back a fair distance. Jou felt the impact as well, but before he fell, two strong arms grabbed on to him.
"I told you."
Amber eyes looked up into the sparkling blue and froze at the glint of amusement there. Jou licked his suddenly dry lips, and for a moment, all he could do was just stare. "Seto?"
"Yeah?"
"Let go of me."
He fell on his butt and gasped in surprise. Looking up, he felt a little pang of sadness in his chest when he saw Seto walking away.
"You didn't eat breakfast, am I right? Come on, let's eat something." The voice held no passion any more.
"Okay." The blonde got up and cursed himself all the way to the dining room.
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"You're so fucking stupid, Jou."
"Gee, thanks Yugi." Jou said with a little bit of surprise in his eyes at hearing such a strong word from his buddy lips. Three years could sure change a lot of things, apparently.
They were seated on the large bed in the room that Yugi and Yami were using. The other two were down in Seto's office, talking.
"What did you want me to do, anyway?" Jou demanded.
"Kiss him, of course! Or do you want me to draw it out for you?"
"Shut up."
The shorter youth sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "Why do you two have to make things so complicated? You like him, he obviously likes you, so what's the fucking problem?"
"It's not that simple, okay?"
"Of course it is! You, Katsuya, are the one who is complicating everything!"
"I just can't!!" exclaimed the blonde, his amber eyes full of anger.
"Why not?" Yugi replied, looking at him with genuine surprise.
"I made a promise."
There was a long moment of silence until finally, the shorter one whispered, "A promise? To who?"
"Shizuka."
The violet eyes grew wide, and then he blinked, obviously confused. "What kind of promise did you make?"
The blonde got up and left the room without saying another word. As the door closed, Yugi sighed and leaned back on the bed. "This is so much more complicated than I first thought," he mused aloud. He needed to talk with Yami.
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Jou was kind of amazed. He had never imagined in his wildest dreams that one day he would be chatting with Seto Kaiba as if they were old friends. The two of them were in the arcade, along with the rest of the gang, but somewhere along the way, they had been left alone when the others had started playing with each other. And so, they had started to talk, and wonder of wonders, it had turned out that the CEO was actually a nice person. Well, Jou found that he was easy to chat to when he wasn't busy trying to be a prick."Oniichan!"
The amber eyes turned around and widened at the sight of his sister, who had been spending a few days in Domino. She looked extremely frightened. "What happened, Shizuka?"
Her voice was panicked. "The others, the arcade, it's happening, and Mokuba…"
"What's happened to Mokuba?" The cold voice sent shivers up Jou's spine. Seto was, indeed, the overly protective big brother.
"He is…he's being held hostage by the robbers!" cried the girl, hugging Jou tightly.
"What?!"
They hurried to the front of the arcade, and there they came upon a scene that neither of them would ever forget: people were cowering on the ground, and Mokuba Kaiba was being held in the arms of a big, bulky man, a gun pointed to his head.
Seto opened his eyes, a silent scream stuck in his throat. It was another nightmare. This made it, what, the fifth night in a row? He was once again remembering the scene that had unfolded three years ago, his dreams were so clear that he felt like he was living it all over again. "Fuck," cursed the CEO, rubbing agitatedly at his temples. He should never have listened to his brother that day. He should have remained the cold, selfish prick that they all knew and hated, and stayed out of that place. If he had, he would never have made the fucking mistake that had cost his brother his life. And Jou's sister's, too. "I don't even know why he still talks to me."
He got up, and decided to get something to drink, something to calm his nerves. This was supposed to be a holiday to help heal the old wounds…but they were hurting more than ever. As he headed for the kitchen, he never noticed the two pairs of eyes that were following him.
"They are so immersed in their own pain that they would never listen to us," the young girl said sadly.
"I know my brother wouldn't. He doesn't believe in those kinds of things."
"Our only chance is Yami."
"Yeah…"
Shizuka and Mokuba entwined their hands together and slowly disappeared from sight.
TBC
