One Moment More

Pairing: Seto/Jou

Beta: Daisey - Too good to be true.

Chapter two

“So, how is the rehearsal going?” – Shizuka asked Mokuba as they headed toward
the park a day or two after the girl had arrived from New York. They’d been
trying to find some time to talk privately, and this was the first opportunity
that had arisen.

“Really good! I think the play will be awesome!” Mokuba answered “How is Jou?
Excited about the changes?”

“Really excited,” said the girl, taking a bite of her ice cream. “He’s looking
for someone to finish out the lease on his apartment. I hope he finds somebody
soon.”

“You know that we have to do something before Jou goes with you, right?”

Shizuka sighed. They’d reached the point of their conversation.

“Yes, I know. And, I know that you are already plotting something.”

“Oh yes,” Mokuba replied, giving her the ‘Kaiba smirk’. “The plan is already
in motion. And with your presence here, I have one more ally.”

“You can count on me. What can I do to help?”

“Here’s what you can do…”

----------

“Kaiba? What’s wrong?” Jou looked at the brunette, who seemed a little out of
breath. The taller male was leaning against the wooden door of the storeroom,
where the blond were putting away the from the basketball team’s equipment.

“I even don’t know where to begin,” Kaiba answered, his tone annoyed.

“How about from the start?” Jou said with a smile.

Seto slid his back down the door and sat on the floor with a sigh.

“Well, some fucking stupid magazine ran a story on the most handsome bachelors
in Japan and guess what? I’m on the list!”

“That’s supposed to be bad?” asked Jou, feeling a little put out that the
magazine was exploiting something he’d known for ages.

“Of course it is!” exclaimed the CEO. “And, they not only said that, they went
on about how wealthy I am, and stuff.” He paused and scowled. “Which is how I
came to be where I am now.”

“And, that is…”

“Hiding in the gym because the girls are chasing me down with mistletoe in
hand.” explained the brunette, burying his head on his hands.

Jou couldn’t help it. He started chuckling though he knew it would piss Kaiba
off, his laughter growing to where he was grabbing his stomach because of the
ache in his side.

“It’s not fucking funny, Katsuya!” exclaimed the taller teen with a glare.

The laughter died on Jou’s lips and he eyed the other in disbelief. Kaiba had
never called him by his first name before.

“What did you say?”

“That it’s not funny.” The other teen crossed his arms.

“Not that. You called me…”

“Katsuya?” Seto arched a brow. “If you don’t like it, then I won’t call you
that again.”

“No!” exclaimed the blond, and then he blushed “I like it…when you call me
that.”

The brunette blinked in surprise. Had he heard that correctly? He cursed
silently when he felt himself blush, the heat seeming to spread through his
body. Trying to force the feeling down, he got up and brushed some imaginary
dust of his uniform.

“Are you done here? Let’s get out of this place.”

“Sure.” The blond turned around to take the keys of the storeroom, the action
serving to hide his happy smile from the CEO. “Ready to go.”

The two of them exited the room. As soon as they did, a blur came out of
nowhere and glomped the brunette, making him fall to the floor.

“Seto-kun!!!” The high pitched sound reverberated off the walls.

Jou winced at the noise and then felt his blood boil at the sight of the girl,
Minako from their English class, straddling his Seto. His eyes widened and
suddenly, he found himself fighting a blush with the realization that he’d just
referred to the brunette as ‘his’.

“Get the fuck off of me.” The icy tone sent shivers down both Jou’s and
Minako’s spine. However, unlike the girl- if one were to judge by her
expression- what the blonde was feeling was nowhere close to fear.

“But…Seto-kun, I…” The female gazed down at him, one of her hands clutching a
clump of mistletoe.

“Get off, or I will force you to. And believe me, you won’t like it.”

Minako slowly removed herself from the brunette, still looking at him with
adoring eyes. She approached again as soon as the CEO got up, but stopped
abruptly when she saw the glares from blue eyes and amber alike. Her eyes
narrowed in recognition as she gazed back at the blonde, the smile on her lips
depreciating.

“I didn’t see you there Jounouchi.”

“I’m sure you didn’t.” – ‘Bitch.’

“If you excuse us,” Kaiba cut in curtly, “Katsuya and I…” He emphasized the
blond’s name “Have much better things to do than to deal with you.”

That took the girl by surprise. She from Jou to Kaiba and then pleaded one
more time.

“But Seto-kun…”

“If you say one more word, I swear that you will regret it for the rest of
your life.” He turned around and strode down the hallway, hearing Jou follow at
his side.

The blond was quite happy with what he’d just witnessed, not to mention really
turned on. But then, Seto at his best was always arousing to him. Not that
anyone knew that.

“Annoying girl.” said Seto as they left the building a few minutes later,
still quite obviously pissed off.

“Yeah, I noticed,” Jou replied, his tone also irritated. After a moment, he
smiled and added, “But, I’m sure you scarred her for life.”

The young CEO smiled lightly.

“Maybe.”

“Aha! I knew you liked to do that!” the blonde accused teasingly.

Blue eyes glanced down at him, and Kaiba smiled even more.

“Maybe.”

Jou returned the smile, completely unaware of the way his eyes shone lovingly
at the brunette. But, Kaiba noticed.

“Ne, Katsuya…Do you have any plans tonight?”

“I’m taking my sister to a girl’s night at Anzu’s. Why?”

Seto sighed, took courage, and asked, “Would you like to go to the movies?”

----------

“He asked you out just like that?” The girl was surprised.

“Well…yeah,” said Jou, scratching his head, blushing.

“And you?”

“And me what?”

“What did you say?!” Shizuka demanded curiously.

“I said yes...of course.” Jou knew he couldn’t blush any deeper than what he
was. “But before you get any ideas, we are just going as friends.”

“Right.”

“Shizuka!” he exclaimed. “Are you even ready, by the way? I don’t wanna be
late!”

The girl giggled, grabbing her bag.

“Of course, nii-san. I don’t want to be blamed if you arrive late on your
first date with Seto.”

Jou sputtered and pushed the girl to the door. Shizuka giggled all the way to
Anzu’s, exclaiming before she entered the house, “Have a good date tonight,
nii-san! You can use the apartment to do stuff with him if you like!”

The blond was cursed all the way to the theater, trying to figure out when,
exactly, his sister had grown up.

----------

To say that Jou was surprised was an understatement. Sure, he and the brunette
could have good conversations when they weren’t trying to out insult each other
but…he’d never imagined, not even in his wildest dreams, that they would have so
much in common- starting with the movie.

The blond had thought that they would argue a lot before reaching an
agreement, but he’d been surprised to find that the young CEO wanted to see the
same movie he’d had in mind. Then, they’d shared a bowl of popcorn and
discovered how many foods they both liked with a lot of butter.

The night went on with more surprises, leaving Jou with a bittersweet
sensation. He would give anything to end the night with a kiss and maybe more.
But the other didn’t make any move, and he began to doubt if the CEO was really
interested in him.

On the other hand, Seto was suffering a dilemma. He wanted to say something,
to do something, but he just didn’t. Something stopped him every time, like
there was a brake on his brain.

The truth was that the blond had become the first true friend he’d ever had.
Mokuba didn’t count; he was his brother. And he was really scared that, if he
said something and Jou didn’t feel the way he did, their friendship would never
be the same.

So, he acted like a good friend, and nothing else. They talked about a lot of
things that night and, in the end, he just hugged the blond, watching him part
with his bike, and sighing deeply after that. It was better this way. Jou would
soon be leaving for Yale and if he was lucky, with time, he would forget about
how much he loved the passionate blond.

TBC