Stinging Beauty
Respective loss
I fought with this chappie, then I fought with the plot, and the chappie again, It’s more like..a Frankenstein monster, stitched together and not what it was intended to be…sigh, I do hope this is not the foreshadowing of a writer’s block…
Ja ne!^^°
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40. Respective loss
One buried himself in his studies, the other one in his work, and both were miserable.
So much though, that come March, Mokuba decided to take matters into his own hands.
After several phone calls and a couple of rearrangements, one Saturday night -Seto was attending a business dinner -he managed to assemble Shizuka, Hiroto, Hiroyuki and Ryou in the Kaiba’s library(Yuugi and Otogi both had to study for semi-finals and Anzu had her first big performance in less than two weeks).
Clearing his throat, the raven-haired boy announced:
“Kon-ban wa, minna-san, and thanks for coming. I suppose, you all know the reason for this meeting, ne?”
“Hai, to bring our brothers together again!” chirped Shizuka, as the others expressed their agreement.
“Right. Ok, I think, all of us agree that this two belong together, because-because-“ Mokuba trailed off, grasping for words.
“-because separated they are incomplete” stated Honda.
“Unhappy”, added Ryou.
“Disillusioned”, offered Shizuka.
“Downright listless”, concluded Hiroyuki.
With a grim nod, Mokuba went on:
“Now, the question is, how to bring them together again? I mean, I know it’s nii-san’s fault, and so does he, but he’s just too stubborn to admit it or say sorry. ”
Shizuka conceded:
“Hai, and Jou is too hard-headed to give in, when he’s right. ”
Everybody sighed.
“So, what should we do? I mean, we can’t just lock the two of them in a room and wait for the outcome”, groaned Hiroyuki.
There was a short silence, then Honda mused:
“Ja, perhaps it may even work, ne?”
Smirking, as the others gave him incredulous stares, he continued:
“Well, as you know,” he shot a glance at Hiroyuki, “or most of you, Yuugi’s birthday is in three weeks, and we, meaning Otogi, Anzu and I, planned to throw a bash. It will also be part a belated birthday party for Jou and a come-together with the old gang, that’s why we decided to rent my father’s club house. ”
Ryou blinked.
“Your father owns a clubhouse??”
Honda rolled his eyes.
“Yes, and an onsen* in Morioka.”
“It belongs to my father’s enterprise, but they rent it out cheap to employees and their family members. ”
A collective “ooohhh” sounded through the library.
Honda grinned.
Mokuba shook his head.
“Iie, that’s so obvious, both Jou and Seto would ring our necks for considering them that gulli..ble…”
Blue-grey eyes narrowed in thought, then focused on Honda.
“Are there going to be any hard drinks at the party?”
The brunet shrugged.
“Sure, aside of you and Shizuka, everyone present will be legal. Doshite?”
A grin, more suited a gremlin or oni, blossomed on Mokuba’s face.
“Perfect. ”
“Aaand- Otogi’s out!” exclaimed Anzu, as the dice-duelist sagged together in his chair, barely conscious.
With left Honda, Seto and Jou pitched against one another.
“I’m still having doubts about this,” whispered Shizuka to Mokuba, ”coaxing the guys into a drinking contest? I know, it’s for the greater cause, but yet…”
Mokuba shrugged and smiled reassuringly at his elder brother, as he poured him another scotch-spiked tequila. In the dim light and dark-tinted shot glasses it was impossible to tell if the liquid was clear or brown.
And then Honda let out a belch, sounding very much like a dying walrus, and went down, face-first.
“Tie!” cheered Anzu a little too enthusiastic for somebody who was supposedly sober.
“Let’s call it an even and declare both of you for winners, ne?” decided Yuugi, who had, wisely enough, not joined the game.
Seto only glared at Jou, who gave a derisive snort.
“Not likely!”
“Over my dead body!”
With that, both downed their glass, although the CEO looked like he was going to throw up any second and Jou’s face shifted from a tipsy red to a slightly unhealthy, greenish color.
Both men coughed and gagged, and then, slowly, bonelessly, Seto slid from his chair and onto the floor.
A split-second before the brunet’s head made contact with the floor, Jou caught him.
Struggling and panting, he managed to lift Seto onto his arms and, wobbling dangerously, slurred:
“Whu-wher’sh’is roo’?”
“Second to the right” tweeted Mokuba, even as the other’s smiled in glee.
This was simply too easy!
Taking one uncertain step after another, Jou somehow hauled the unconscious Seto into the mentioned dorm and onto the bed.
For a moment, he stood there, swaying from side to side, then his brown eyes rolled back into his head and he joined the CEO on the orange comforter.
Neither one heard the door shut close and lock.
“Please, somebody shoot me right now”, croaked Seto, as he awoke with a pounding head.
“Shut the fuck up, ‘m sleepin’ here”, mumbled Jou, who tried to kill the swarms of mad hornets wrecking havoc in his skull.
Groaning, the brunet pulled himself into a sitting position, then placed his poor head into his hands.
“I need a painkiller”, he growled.
“And a toothbrush”, mumbled Jou.
Seto considered throwing the pillow at the blond, then decided to use what little energy he could bring up to find a prozac or anything else to fight the hangover.
But first he made his obligations to the porcelain god.
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Fifteen minutes later -Seto’s stomach had finally stopped revolting- Jou came stumbling into the bathroom, naked, and headed straight for the shower.
He closed the curtain and turned on the cold water.
“Ow! Bloody fucking son-of-a-bitch, chikushou…”, curses filled the air and attacked Seto’s sensitive ears, as the icy fluid battered the blond’s body.
Just when the brunet thought he couldn’t take it anymore, out stepped Jou, water running down his delicious frame, drawing the CEO’s attention.
Grabbing a towel, the blond shot Kaiba a dark look.
“Don’t even think about it. ”
“Been a while. ”
“Up yours!”
“You wish!”
“No longer. ”
Jou had found the painkillers, popped two of them into his mouth, then let the package fall into Seto’s lap. Taking a few sips of water, he swallowed the pills and made his way back to the bedroom.
Quickly slipping into his clothes, the blond attempted to walk out the main door -and found it locked.
“What the-?“ he snarled, then rattled at the knob, before giving up.
Turning around, he stomped passed the confused CEO, and took hold of the second bathroom door’s handle -to find it in the same condition.
With a frustrated roar, he gave the hardwood frame a kick, before turning to Seto.
“Would you believe me if I told you that our dear siblings and oh so trusted friends locked us in?”
“Nani? They wouldn’t dare-!”
Alas, as the brunet found out, they had. And it didn’t take a genius, to figure out why.
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Like, duh. Should I let them make up, or try to kill one another..? Hmmm, possibilities, possibilities…
* Jap: Spa(are you sure, you’re an otaku..?¬ ¬’)