Only In My Dreams

One Step Forward, Two Back

Seto and Katsuya lay together under the Sakura tree, sweaty, sticky, and heaving. After many times dancing the horizontal tango as some people call it, the young, virile boys gave it a rest. And for good reason too. Because their relationship started because of a simple rivalry, there was always the need to outdo one another. And of course that would translate into their sex life. Once the two were tired to continue, they just ended it. And now, very little has changed.

Seto ran his index finger along his lover’s leg, the ghost touch making the blond moan. No words were really needed. Both of them were men of action. Why ruin a good thing? A gentle touch here, a tiny peck there. Those spoke more than any words could. It was all they needed.

The blond sighed in happiness. “You do realize how much you mean to me?” It was rhetorical in a sense.

His lover looked at the beautiful form that he was holding in his arms. “How much?” he asked.

“Without realizing it, you snuck into my heart and now, I wouldn’t know what to do without you.” Katsuya looked at his dragon with shining amber eyes. Brilliant Prussian blue were staring right back at him.

“I would have never guessed that all of the fighting and the rivalry that we had was just a guise so that we would have an excuse to be near one another.” Seto chuckled. “And in the end, our true feelings were laid to the fore. We have been ignorant and missed out on so many opportunities and memories, so let us make sure that we don’t lose out on any more.

With those sweet words, the world began to come into focus.

Kaiba Seto was never one to panic. It was against his nature of being cool and collected. So when he woke up from a dream with romantic parameters about his worst enemy turned infatuation, it would be natural to be a bit disturbed. However, the acting of showing distress is beneath him. An internal person by rearing, the blue-eyed CEO uses reason to mark his every move.

In the end, he could only blame himself for creating a love interest. It was all of the merciless teasing that cause the unnecessary bonding with the mutt, Jounouchi Katsuya. Now, he is slowly sinking towards the bottom of the pit of infatuation, from which there will be no escape.

There are a few steps he could take. He could admit to Jounouchi that he loved him. He could move away from Domino, effectively destroying the want for Jounouchi. He could allow it to fester, driving him slowly insane. He could erase the blond forever. He could do all of those things. But reason and logic prevented him from doing anything of the sort as being too extraneous, too illogical, and too stupid.

This morning, he did not wake up with a raging hard-on, but he felt his face go hot with all of the soft words.

It wasn’t like him to even acquiesce to feelings in general. Feelings are a horrible way of directing one’s life, according to Kaiba Seto. Jounouchi’s life was a cautionary tale to him. See what happens when you act like this?

It was then that Seto caught himself thinking about the mutt. For someone that he actively referred to as a mutt, a dog that is worthless to society, he was thinking about him so very often.

Not wanting to delve deeper into the manner, especially on a Friday when there is no school (the electrical grid short-circuited, causing the heating and water system to malfunction), Seto made the queen-size bed and prepared himself to go to work.

Jounouchi Katsuya was also getting up. Unlike Kaiba, he was surprised at the warm and fuzzy feelings of the dream. It was unusual to say the least. Wasn’t it the other day that he was distressing over the fact that he was gay and attracted to Kaiba?

It didn’t make sense at all. Why was he at peace with the fact that he had a romantic dream about the cold CEO? Kaiba was the opposite of his dream facsimile. It boggled the mind.

He was surprised at how quickly he had forgotten the date that he went on yesterday. Mai was a very beautiful woman, but there was no spark. Jou felt bad that he used her. Even more so that he was unsuccessful in proving to himself that he was not homosexual.

Sighing, Katsuya stretched out his limbs to get the sleep out of them. Moving to the bathroom, he prepared for his day. Today, he was to meet his social worker for their weekly session. Not that Brittinia made him go to the boring office. He always took him to somewhere fun, all on the Ministry’s account.

Today, he was taking Jou to Kaibaland. Not that the blond was ungrateful for the chance to play free games, oh no. It had everything to do with the dreams that he has been having. Bumping into him in school everyday is bad enough. But outside of school boundaries and on his home field no less, that was something Jou wanted to avoid at all cost.

Perhaps this is one thing that he should bring up with him. But for right now, he will stay in bed, just resting and contemplating the fact of this new dream.

At 6:50 on the dot, Kaiba was driven into the parking lot of the building that bore his name. As he was getting out of the limo, someone in a modest Mercedes was pulling in. Kaiba scoffed. It figures that Sakura Nicola would drive something like that. She wasn’t worried about appearance as she could make anything look good. She wasn’t above using her looks to get KaibaCorp’s adversaries to acquiesce. However, she didn’t allow her looks to define her, unlike his former secretary.

Not that these accolades made him wait for her in the parking lot. She could take care of herself. The elevator ride gave him some time to think. Why Jou at this particular point of time was the question on his mind. The blond mutt was always there. Something had to have happened that caused the catalyst. When did he start feeling these things?

Going back, Kaiba remembered a day when he and Jou were arguing in front of his brand new blood red Lamborghini. Something happened to cause two, otherwise, healthy teens to clutch their respective chests as if they were having a heart attack. It would be a good idea to further investigate this. As he finished that thought, the elevator reached the top floor.

The big, bad CEO walked to his office and sat in his desk. Booting up the desktop with the biometrics touchpad, Kaiba was prepared to start his day. Five minutes later, his personal assistant walked into the office, grinning at the blue-eyed teen. Her green eyes sparkled with humor.

“I’m hurt.” She faked with a phony sniff. “Do you know that a woman like me could have been accosted by unsavory characters?”

The blue-eyed teen took a stack of papers on his desk and started to order them into his agenda for the day. Without missing a beat, Kaiba made his retort. “Then that would mean I would look for someone to do what you do.”

Sakura Nicola decided that she wouldn’t dignify that with a response. Moving towards her seat, the two prepared the agenda for the day.

“So, how is Mokuba-kun?” The long-haired woman asked after situating herself in her desk.

“He is doing fine since you saw him the other day.” Kaiba responded, deftly avoiding the issue that she really wanted to talk about.

“I meant after his date.” Unfortunately, she would not be deterred. “And how did you feel after it.”

“We didn’t talk he came home.” He told her. “I fell asleep as soon as I got back from the business dinner. He came in an hour later, woke me up to tell me that he was in and went to sleep. Before I headed to work, I stopped by his room and let him sleep in.”

He tried to end the conversation but Sakura Nicola was not one to leave any loose ends. “You didn’t answer the second question. How do you feel about Mokuba-kun dating a woman?”

“I don’t have a problem with it.” The blue-eyed teen snapped.

“Try again, Seto-kun.” Immovable green eyes stared back at him.

Kaiba stood to his full height and the room almost began to darken, just like his mood. Sakura was so shocked at this development that she was struck with paralysis. “Are you trying to get me to admit that when Mokuba started going on his date, I felt as if he was pushing me away? That he is growing up and will someday go off on his own? That he has someone who reciprocates his feelings? Is that what you want me to admit?”

It’s not everyday that the great Kaiba Seto loses his temper. But when he does, it’s a scary thing, even for people close to him. Sakura, seeing the fury in his dangerous blazing sapphire eyes, tried to back away from the conversation but Kaiba just continued.

“Or is it that you want me to admit that I am jealous of what Mokuba has with that girl, Kawai Shizuka and how I want that kind of relationship with a guy that would in no wise ever return my feelings?” After Kaiba’s seething ended, he sat down and closed his eyes, centering his focus of control.

This would have to be the first time since the first day of joining KaibaCorp under the first Kaiba that Sakura Nicola was afraid to continue. She could see, along with anger, pain and frustration in his eyes and body language. She was about ready to begin the day when the teen looked at her. As she stared into his eyes, she could finally see him look his age. He wasn’t the boy who had to become a man in a ruthless dog-eat-dog world. For the first time, she could see an everyday teenager that was questioning everything he had experienced.

“Do you believe in irony?” he murmured. “I believe that this is my punishment for scorning Jounouchi’s friendship. Now all I am left with is a growing infatuation that won’t go away.”

Sakura felt very bad for bringing this on Kaiba. “Forgive me, Seto-kun. I shouldn’t be prying.”

“Let it go.” He told her. It was the closest thing that she would get as to being forgiven. With that done, she went back to work.

Jounouchi, after having sneezed for what seemed like a gazillion times, decided that it was time to get out of bed.

While normally he would have taken a shower, something compelled him to go into the living room. Inside the living room was Shizuka with his pastels, painting upon the blank easel. She wasn’t doing a very good job as shown through her amateurish strokes. But what she lacked in experience, she made up for in enthusiasm.

With a huge grin on his face, he decided to sneak up on her. Tiptoeing so that he would not be heard, he raised his hands in the air.

Very suddenly, he yelled and placed his hands on his sister. She jumped and accidentally smacked him in the face with the paintbrush which, unfortunately, had some blue paint on it. And that blue paint was smeared on the blond’s cheek. There was a space of a few seconds where neither one moved, both taking in the seriousness of the situation. That was the space necessary for Jou to take some of the blue paint and smearing it on his sister’s cheek.

This is the start of the paint war. The two of them took the paints and splattered it on the other. There were many casualties of this war, including Jounouchi’s couch and floor. The siblings had more colors in their hair than Yuugi did and that’s saying something.

Out of breath but still giggling, Katsuya and Shizuka collapsed on the paint-smeared couch. “You don’t know how much I miss these spontaneous moments, Shizuka.” Her brother told her. “You don’t know how much missed all of these little moments.”

She nodded in the affirmative.

As we were still catching our breath, the doorbell rang. Katsuya was not expecting visitors at this time so he wondered who it could be.

As the blond opened the door, he saw that there was no one at his eye level. Either someone was playing tricks with the doorbell or he had to look down. Sure enough, there was his friend Yuugi.

Yuugi, on the other hand, was shocked at the figure that opened the door. Sure it was Jou. But he had paint in his hair, on his shirt and all over his face. What could have happened that would have caused such an outcome? The blond laughed sheepishly. “Shi-chan and I were having some fun with the paint.”

Yuugi shook his head in amusement. It just seemed like a Jou thing to do.

The blond teen invited his multi-colored haired friend inside. The sound of running water alerted them that Shizuka was taking a shower.

Yuugi was here on a mission. Since Jou let out at school that he was going out on a date with Mai, he made it his mission to see that the two were an item in a week’s time. Think of it as revenge (or the gentle push) that he received when he was asking Anzu for a date).

Jou offered his friend a seat on a chair that was untainted by the paints. “So what are you doing here, Yuugi?”

“I was wondering what your plans were for today.” The smaller teen answered. “None of the guys have plans, so I’m wondering if you have any.”

“Yeah, I have a weekly session with Bri-kun today.” He responded quickly. “He’s taking me to Kaibaland. You guys are welcomed to come if you want to.”

“Yeah! That sounds like a good idea.” Yuugi got out his cellphone and started dialing numbers.

As he was making a call, Shizuka came out of the shower, dressed in a pink t-shirt and some jeans. “Shower’s free, Katsu-chan.” She told him. And with that, the blond boy headed to the shower, leaving the two of them to talk about their plans.

Katsuya stepped into the warm spray. It was quite relieving to have the warm water pulsate on his cool skin. It was something very calming. It also gave him time to think

How was he going to bring this up to his social worker? He felt stupid to just say, I just found out that I am gay and I have an infatuation with a boy who hates me. That would probably get him a one-way ticket to the loony bin. But then again, Bri-kun seemed like a very laid-back guy. He probably wouldn’t react in revulsion or the like.

The blond shook his head in frustration. In the end, he was probably worried about his friends’ reactions to this news. It was very important that they accept him for who he was, even if he did turn out to be gay.

As he was washing his hair and watching the paints spiral down the drain, his thoughts then came to Kaiba. From what he knew, either from Mokuba’s limited contact with them or the untrustworthy tabloids, Kaiba had never publicly announced that he had a girlfriend of any sort. It meant one of three things. One thing that it could mean was that he has a girlfriend and the media doesn’t know about it. But that would mean that he was not telling his little brother. That doesn’t sound like Kaiba. A second thought was that he was not interested in any kind of relationship at all. That seems more like Kaiba. He was so engrossed in his company that having a relationship of either the hetero or homosexual kind was not possible. Katsuya could only pity the CEO if this was true. Then there was the third possibility. Kaiba was gay and either has a gay lover that no one knows about or is not in a relationship for fear of his company.

Katsuya turned off the shower and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist. Best not to overthink these things. An old saying comes to mind. “If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.”

The blond went to his room and changed into a white t-shirt and jeans. He put his dueling deck in his pocket. From what he heard from Bri-kun, he could play Duel Monsters well. Katsuya was going to challenge him to a duel today.

Katsuya came to the living room where two teenagers were looking at him slyly. The blond stopped in his tracks. Why were they looking at him so strangely? “Onii-chan, what happened on your date with Mai-san?” Shizuka asked.

Jou’s face was crestfallen. He really didn’t want to get into that right now. He was still reeling from the fact that he was gay. This was coming sooner than he wanted.

Shizuka saw his face and was shocked. Yuugi was perplexed. What could have happened on that date that could have made his friend’s countenance fall like that?

”We decided that it would be better for us to just be friends.” Jou told the two teens.

This information completely bowled over Yuugi and Shizuka. “But we both agree that Mai was the perfect woman for you.” The shorter teen argued. “You two were perfect for each other.”

“There was no spark, Yuugi.” Jounouchi responded sagely, as if he was an old master in the ways of love. “If there is no spark, then pretending there is would only cause us pain.”

“But Katsu-chan …” Shizuka insisted.

“Please enough.” The blond yelled, causing the teens to squirm in their seats. “You guys weren’t there. Please believe me when I tell you there was no spark. I am just as confused as you guys, so can you please drop it.”

There was a terrifying silence for a while. Fortunately, that was broken by Yuugi’s cellphone ringing. It was Honda, calling to confirm the plan to go to Kaibaland.

As Yuugi ended the call, Jounouchi plastered a smile on his face. “Now let us go to Kaibaland!”

Both Shizuka and Yuugi realized that Jou was putting up a front so that he wouldn’t have to discuss these issues.

The teens took the bus because Jou’s motorcycle could only fit one other person. They did not talk on the bus but at least the silence was bearable.

As the bus stopped directly at Kaibaland, they were greeted by Honda, Anzu, Ryou and Otogi. And so, the seven of them came to the ticket line, where they met a familiar man with silver braids.

“Welcome, Jounouchi Katsuya-kun, to Kaibaland.” Brittinia cried in a happy voice. As he saw the crowd with him, he smiled. “Welcome also, friends of Katsuya-kun.”

Jou waved at his social worker. “Hey Bri-kun! I hope you don’t mind that I brought my friends with me.”

“Nah, s’alright.” He responded with a smile. “But here’s a problem. I don’t think that I have the money to pay for all of you guys.”

“We have our own money, Tranae-san, so you don’t have to worry about paying for us.” Anzu told him.

When everyone bought a ticket, Jou led the group to one of the dueling stations. Renting two of the duel discs from Battle City, he gave one to his social worker and attached his to his arm. The blond then led the group to a dueling ring where he and Brittinia could duel. The rest of the group went to a viewing station to obverse the duel, cheering Jou on.

As the two prepared their decks, Jou flashed a smile to his silver-haired social worker. “Do you really know how to duel, Bri-kun?” He asked the older man. “Because I am going to tell you right now that I will not go easy on you.”

“Well I am glad that you won’t go easy on me.” The braided man retorted. “But you are acting as if you have this duel already won.”

“Well, I did come in second in Duelist Kingdom and I was in the top four in Battle City.” As he polished his own apples, he didn’t see that his social worker was already prepared and placing his deck in the automated shuffler.

“Perhaps you should get your cards shuffled now, Katsuya-kun.” Brittinia told him. That called Jou to blush.

The cards were shuffled. The life point counters were set to 8000. All that was left was to decide who goes first.

“Age before beauty, Bri-kun.” The blond winked.

“I have both, Katsuya-kun.” Brittinia rebutted as he drew a card. He placed two cards face-down in the magic and trap card zone and one card in face-down defense mode. “Before I end my turn, Katsuya-kun, I’ll play my magic card, Delinquent Duo.”

Jounouchi blanched. “I didn’t realize that he would have some good cards or know how to play it.” He thought.

“For the price of 1000 life points, I get to randomly choose one of your cards and send it to the graveyard.” He explained. “Then you must choose a card and send it to the graveyard. Pretty good effect, eh Katsuya-kun.”

Brittinia walked over to Jou and discarded his Fiend Megacyber. As Brittinia walked back to his spot, Jou discarded his Swordsman of Landstar.

A scoreboard showed Yuugi and the gang the two cards that Brittinia made Jounouchi discard. “Wow!” Ryou remarked. “That was an excellent opening play. Not only did Tranae-san made Jou discard his powerful Fiend Megacyber, but also he now will have four cards after he draws his next card. That limits some of the choices he can make.”

“Well, it may be a blow to Jou, but at least he can recover from it.” Yuugi remarked. “He’s come out of tough situations before. On the bright side, at least the fate of the world isn’t resting on his shoulders this time.”

Brittinia ended his turn. (Score Brittinia 7000, Katsuya 8000)

Jou drew his card, Gearfreid the Iron Knight. In his hand, he had Alligator Sword, Kunai with Chain, Dragon’s Rage, and Gearfreid the Iron Knight. He placed Kunai with Chain facedown and placed Gearfreid in attack mode.

“I play Gearfreid, the Iron Knight in attack mode.” Jou announced in a loud voice. A hologram of the creature appeared on the field via the duel disc. Now the blond surveyed the field. Brittinia had two cards facedown and one card in facedown defense mode. It could be anything. But if he leaves where it is, his social worker could command whatever it is to attack him.

After a moment of deliberation, Jounouchi decided on his course of action. “Gearfreid the Iron Knight will attack your facedown card.”

Gearfried attacked the facedown card, which was revealed to be Needle Worm. Brittinia smirked. “Needle Worm is a flip effect, Katsuya-kun and you just activated it. Its effect is you must discard the top five cards in your deck. Please do that now.”

Jounouchi realized that he wasn’t dueling an amateur. Brittinia knew exactly what he was doing. His cards turned out to be Dark Hole, Dian Keto the Cure Master, Trap Hole, Battle Warrior, and Flame Manipulator.

Jounouchi ended his turn. (Score Katsuya 8000, Brittinia 7000)

Brittinia drew a card and smirked. “I’ll play my trap card, Conscription. It forces you to draw the top card in your deck. If it’s a monster card, I can special summon it on the field. If it’s anything else, it goes to your hand.”

Jounouchi drew his card. It happened to be another Gearfreid. Jounouchi grimaced at losing his other Gearfreid but it had to be done.

Back at KaibaCorp, Kaiba Seto and Sakura Nicola were quietly doing whatever big companies like KaibaCorp do when an alert flashed across Kaiba’s screen. Kaiba stopped typing to see that Jounouchi Katsuya was dueling in Kaibaland.

Sakura looked at Kaiba as he stopped working and went over to his desk to see what he was staring at. It was a duel alert. Now, she was interested. “Which high level duelist is using your machine?”

Kaiba snorted, knowing how ridiculous this was going to sound. “Jounouchi!” he answered.

His personal assistant’s eyebrow rose to a querying glance. “I thought you said when you were preparing the list for Battle City that he was a third-rate duelist. If that’s so, then how come he is on your alert list?”

“I told him he was a third-rate duelist compared to me.” Kaiba snorted. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he is an accomplished duelist. He is like the dark horse of dueling.”

Sakura looked at her boss as he told her this. It seemed that he was talking in a wistful voice. It was almost reminiscent of a time when he wasn’t Kaiba Seto, the CEO of KaibaCorp, but Kaiba Seto, a teenager who happened to be one of the great champions of Duel Monsters.

“So who is he dueling?” She asked.

“Some guy name Tranae Brittinia.” The teen told her and he looked at her. She was smirking.

“He is in for a surprise.” She said humorously. “Brittinia is a very skilled duelist.”

“You know him?” The blue-eyed teen asked.

“You don’t remember? He’s the guy that picked me up from the office the other day, the guy that Mokuba-kun thought was my boyfriend.” Kaiba nodded as Sakura explained his relationship with Brittinia.

An idea was forming in his head. “Sakura, do you want to go and watch this duel in person?” He asked. Although the way he asked, it sounded as if he was pleading for her permission.

”A field trip, Seto-kun?” she queried. “Sounds like a fun idea. Let’s go.”

Kaiba put his computer on standby and took his briefcase, which contained his laptop and dueling deck. Sakura also put her computer on standby and took her dueling deck. (By an ordinance of the KaibaCorp’s office, all employees must have their own deck and have some understanding of the game’s mechanics.) With everything packed, Kaiba called his personal chauffeur and they got into his limo.

“What kind of deck does Tranae use?” Kaiba asked.

”His deck is a deck-destroying deck.” Sakura answered. “His deck goes after cards in the hand and deck and sends them in the graveyard. What Jounouchi will learn is never attack Brittinia blindly. It will do him in.”

With that, Kaiba and Sakura headed to Kaibaland.

Brittinia looked at the cards in his hand. “I sacrifice Gearfreid for Vampire Lord.” The hologram of Gearfreid disappeared and a hologram of a giant vampire appeared. It had an attack of 2000 to Jou’s Gearfreid’s 1800.

“Vampire Lord. Attack Katsuya-kun’s Gearfreid.” The Vampire Lord obeyed and Jou’s monster was destroyed. Unfortunately, because of Gearfreid’s effect, he wasn’t able to activate Kunai with Chain.

From the viewing area, Honda scoffed at the scant damage Brittinia inflicted. “So he lost 200 life points. Jou will pull out.”

Yuugi shook his head. “That’s not all, Honda. Vampire Lord has a special effect.”

“Allow me to tell you about Vampire Lord’s special effect.” Brittinia explained. “I will call out a type of card, either monster, magic or trap. You must send to the graveyard the card that corresponds with what I call out. But before you do that, allow me to reveal my other facedown card. It’s called Robbin’ Zombie. Its effect is whenever I cause battle damage to you, you must discard the top card in your deck.”

Jou blanched. “So that’s his strategy.” He realized. “He is trying to deck me out.”

“I call trap, Katsuya-kun.” Brittinia called out. Jou discarded the top card which was Hinotama and his trap card, Skull Dice.

Brittinia looked at his charge. Something was off with him. “Something’s distracting you.” He called out to him.

“I have something on my mind that I want to talk to you about later, Bri-kun.” Jou admitted.

“Don’t worry, Katsuya-kun.” The silver-haired social worker smiled. “You’ll have my full attention. But right now, would you give your full attention to the duel? I don’t want to beat you without you playing at your full potential.”

To that, Jou grinned. “Who said that I am going to lose?”

Brittinia placed one card facedown and ended his turn. (Score Brittinia 7000, Katsuya 7800)

Honda looked at his shorter friend. “What’s so special about Tranae-san’s deck?”

“He is destroying Jou’s deck by effects so far.” Yuugi explained. “Perhaps he is trying to deck Jou out.” Honda didn’t respond to that, but continued watching.

Mokuba was supervising Kaibaland to make sure that everything was going his brother’s way. He was carrying around a clipboard with paper, writing notes on what needed to be improved when he stumbled across one dueling ring in particular. He recognized one of the duelists as Jounouchi and smiled. Perhaps Shizuka was here as well. And if not, it would be a good thing to hang out with his girlfriend’s brother. He made his way inside the ring.

Jounouchi drew his next card, Pot of Greed. It was a good card, so far. But that facedown card worried him a bit. It could be anything, and the blond was willing to bet anything that it was going to make him discard cards. In other words, he had to play conservatively.

“I play Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw 2 cards.” Jou announced. His opponent nodded and the blond drew Time Wizard and Baby Dragon. Jou couldn’t have asked for a better hand. But still, the facedown card was a threat to his hand. Perhaps he could bluff his way out.

“I play Time Wizard in attack mode and play one card facedown.” Placing his Dragon’s Rage card facedown, he prepared for Time Wizard’s effect. “I activate Time Wizard’s effect. I flip a coin. If I call it, your monster is destroyed. If I’m wrong, my Time Wizard is gone and I lose 250 life points.”

Brittinia quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing. Jou produced a coin and flipped it. “I call tails. Tails never fails.” It landed on tails. Vampire Lord was destroyed.

”Time Wizard, attack his life points directly.” Brittinia took another hit to his life points. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. “I end my turn, Bri-kun.” Jou announced. (Score: Katsuya 7800, Brittinia 6500)

Brittinia drew his next card and smirked. “I activate my Vampire Lord’s special effect. If it sent to the graveyard by a monster’s special effect, then I am allowed to special summon it to the field.” The hologram of the Vampire Lord returned to the field. “Now I will place my Gravekeeper’s Servant magic card on the field. For every time you call an attack, you must discard the top card in your deck.”

Jou blanched again. So he was right in assuming that Brittinia was going after his cards instead of his life points. This meant that every attack he made had to be very powerful or else he will run out of cards and lose the duel.

Brittinia called out to his monster. “Vampire Lord, attack his Time Wizard.” As the vampire rushed to attack the oversized clock, Jou pushed a button on his duel disc.

“Sorry, Bri-kun. But I activate my trap, Kunai with Chain.” The kunai wrapped around the vampire, effectively stopping him. The Time Wizard gained an additional 500 attack points which brought its attack power to 1000.

The smirk on Brittinia’s face disappeared and was replaced by a look of displeasure. “You still can’t destroy my Vampire Lord with your Time Wizard.” He told him matter-of-factly. With that, he ended his turn. (Score: Brittinia 6500, Katsuya 7800)

Jou drew his next card. It was Polymerization. A wide grin grew on his face. “Alright! Now we’re talking. I activate Polymerization to fuse Time Wizard and Baby Dragon to create Thousand Dragon.” Time Wizard’s hologram was replaced by an enormous dragon. Brittinia’s eyes widened at the site of the dragon.

“I also summon Alligator Sword.” A giant bipedal alligator was created via hologram.

“Now Thousand Dragon, attack Vampire Lord.” Jou commanded. The Vampire Lord was destroyed and Brittinia lost 400 life points. Unfortunately for Jou, because of Brittinia’s Gravekeeper’s Servant, he had to discard the top card, which turned out to be Legendary Fisherman.

“Alligator Sword, attack Brittinia’s life points directly.” Before the attack could commence, the blond had to again discard the top card, which turned out to be Shields and Swords. Unfortunately for Jou, this time Brittinia was ready for him.

“I’ll activate my trap card now, Katsuya-kun.” The silver-haired social worker smirked. “It’s called A Rival Appears. I choose one of your monsters to activate it. Then I can summon a monster with the exact number of stars attached to it. I choose your Alligator Sword. It has four stars, so I will summon my four-star Vorse Raider.”

Vorse Raider’s hologram entered the field. “So do you want to continue this attack?” he asked. Vorse Raider’s attack was 1900 while Alligator Sword was 1500. It would be a failed gambit to attack. Jou ended his turn. (Score: Katsuya 7800, Brittinia 6100)

Mokuba caught up with Jou’s group. “Hey guys!” Shizuka turned around and saw her boyfriend waving in their direction. She waved back.

“Hey, Mokuba-kun.” She shouted back. The group turned around and saw the younger Kaiba heading in their direction. Saying their hellos, the group turned their attention back to the duel.

Mokuba pulled Shizuka to the side. “I missed you since yesterday.” The younger Kaiba admitted. “I had a great time last night.”

“I did as well, Mokuba-kun.” The girl with the strawberry hair told her boyfriend. “Thank you for taking me there.”

There was a comfortable silence for a while where they were content to just hold hands and watch the duel.

“By the way, who is Jounouchi-san dueling?” Mokuba asked. “He looks familiar but I can’t place where I know him from.”

“That’s his social worker, Tranae Brittinia-san.” She told him. “He was at the party a couple of days ago.”

The lights went on as Mokuba remembered the guy. “So who’s winning so far?”

Honda, from his peripheral vision, could see that Mokuba and Shizuka were acting pretty close, almost as if they were in a relationship. It was bittersweet for him to see that. On the one hand, he was sad to see that he didn’t have a chance with Shizuka, who he liked more than a friend. On the other hand, at least he didn’t have to worry about incurring his best friend’s displeasure.

Brittinia drew his next card and smirked. “You’re as good as the rumors say. I only have two cards in my hand. I daresay that I need a new hand if I am going to beat you and this card is the one to do it. Of course I am talking about my Card of Sanctity.”

Brittinia activated his magic card. Both of the duelists drew cards until they had six cards in their hands. “The next item on the list is to push the duel in my favor. This card will do it, Final Countdown. This magic card takes 2000 life points to activate, but after twenty turns, if you don’t bring my life points to zero, I automatically win the duel.”

There was a gasp from the others as Brittinia activated his card. “Now Jou is in a bind.” Ryou commented. “Jou has a time limit to defeat Tranae-san.”

Anzu was confused. “But Tranae-san already is down to half his life points. How can that be bad?”

”Because Brittinia has already took out some of his best cards.” Yuugi explained to his girlfriend. “He also has Gravekeeper’s Servant on the field which will force Jou to discard the top card every time he attacks. Plus, I am guessing that he has other cards to destroy Jou’s deck.”

Brittinia took another card in his hand and placed in on the field. “This card will work wonders for me, Swords of Revealing Light.” Giant holographic swords surrounded Jou and the blond gasped.

“Finally, I command my Vorse Raider to attack your Alligator Sword.” The social worker announced in a loud voice. The hologram made quick work of Jou’s monster as his life points went down and he had to discard the top card, Graceful Dice. With that, Brittinia ended his turn. (Score: Brittinia 4100, Katsuya 7400. Turns left: 19)

Kaiba and Sakura made it to the theme part bearing the CEO’s name when Sakura had a question for him. “We are going to observe Jounouchi duel, right?”

“Is there a problem with that, Sakura?” he asked emotionlessly.

“But I thought he hated you. Why are you going to see him duel?” She had a point. What was the purpose of watching him duel if they had a mutual hate front? Was he really expecting the puppy to jump into his arms after having witnessed him duel? This infatuation of his was really causing Kaiba to have lapses of judgment.

”I’ll worry about that should the question ever come up.” He answered with finality. This subject was not going to be brought up again.

Sakura shrugged her shoulders and followed her boss.

The blond drew his next card and looked at his hand: Insect Queen, Release Restraint, Monster Reborn, Jinzo, Remove Trap, Axe Raider and Scapegoat. He closed his eyes for a while and tried to come up with a strategy. Right now, because of Swords of Revealing Light, he couldn’t attack. Plus Final Countdown was activated, giving him 19 turns to win the duel before he automatically loses.

He really couldn’t do anything this turn, so, after placing Scapegoat facedown on the field, he ended it. (Score: Katsuya 7400, Brittinia: 4100. Turns left: 18)

Yuugi shook his head at the events on the field. “Jou is trapped now. Every card he plays now has to count.” Ryou nodded, agreeing with him.

Anzu, looking at Jou’s countenance, decided to give him a confidence booster. “Come on, Jou. I know that you can come out of this. We all believe in you.”

Within moments, there was a resounding cheer coming from outside the ring. Everyone was cheering him on and it made Jou smile. “Thanks, you guys.” He blushed.

Brittinia smiled. “You have great friends, Katsuya-kun. This is the result of opening your heart to people. Perhaps someday you will find someone like that who will also love you in the way that you deserve. When you do, open your heart to that individual.”

Jou’s jaw descended when he heard this. Did his social worker know something about what was troubling him? Brittinia always had the uncanny sense to know when he was feeling down or extremely happy. In many ways, the blond considered the man his father. He didn’t have this kind of bond with his own father. Perhaps this is the way that everything balances each other out.

“But for now, you are getting your ass handed to you by me.” The long-haired man taunted.

“You wish!” the blond retorted in laughter.

Brittinia drew his next card and smiled. “For my next trick, I will play the magic card, Misfortune. With this, I can deduct your life points by half the attack points of one of your monsters. I choose your Thousand Dragon. You lose 1200 life points.”

Jou’s gasped as he saw his life point counter go down.

”Before I end my turn, I will play one card facedown and one card in facedown defense mode.” With that, Brittinia ended his turn. (Score: Brittinia 4100, Katsuya 6200. Turns left: 17)

Jou drew his card. On his face now was a smirk that he could hardly contain. He let out a victorious whoop. “Here we go, Bri-kun. I activate the magic card I just drew, Mystical Space Typhoon, to take out your Swords of Revealing Light. Then I’ll activate my other magic card, Remove Trap to take out your Robbin’ Zombie.”

Jou’s cheering squad let out a whoop that rivaled his own when he played those cards. The swords disappeared and Thousand Dragon let out a howl of freedom.

Brittinia’s eyes flashed over in shock. His stalling tactic was crushed. But he was prepared. All he had to wait for was his next turn. Then the duel would be his. All he could lose was 500 life points this turn.

”And now I will attack your facedown card.” The blond announced.

Honda slapped his forehead. “Is he an idiot? Why isn’t he attacking the Vorse Raider? It’s in attack mode.”

Yuugi shook his head. “I think Jou knows what he is doing.” The teen with the multi-colored hair looked at Jou’s side of the field. “What is it that he has had facedown for so long?” he thought.

Discarding a card (Fusion Sage) to the graveyard, his Thousand Dragon prepared its attack. “And now, the moment you all have been waiting for. I activate my facedown card, Dragon’s Rage.”

Brittinia’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“That’s a brilliant strategy.” Ryou commented from his position in the crowd. “By playing that card, he can now attack facedown cards and Tranae-san will lose the difference in life points.” All of the others cheered him on as Thousand Dragon took a deep breath.

Thousand Dragon blew fire at the facedown card, which turned out to be another Needle Worm. The good news was that Brittinia lost 1600 life points in the attack. The bad news was that Jou had to discard another five cards to the graveyard.

“I activate my trap, Magic Thorn.” Brittinia announced. “For every card that is sent to the graveyard via a monster’s effect, you lose 500 life points. In total, this skirmish made you lose 2500 life points.

Jou sighed. There was nothing he could do except discard the five cards. He looked at them before sending them to the graveyard and moaned in displeasure when he saw his Red Eyes, along with Gearfreid the Swordsman, Magic Jammer, Change of Heart and Raigeki. With that, he ended his turn. (Score: Katsuya 3700, Brittinia 2500. Turns left: 16)

Just then, for some strange reason, his eye was attracted to some movement at the top of the ring. He saw two figures looking down at him duel but couldn’t make them out at the distance from where he was. He felt as if he knew at least one of those figures, but from where and what capacity? Strange enough, one of the figures staring down made him feel at calm. But it wasn’t important to think about why. Jounouchi Katsuya had a duel to win.

The social worker looked at Jou looking up at the top of the ring. Wondering what was so interesting there; he turned his head slightly and saw two figures. Because he was closer to them, he could make out one of them as Sakura Nicola. That would mean that the other figure was most likely Kaiba Seto. But why was he here? Nikki-chan, he could guess, got an alert that showed her that his card combinations were being played. But as for Kaiba, he had heard many stories about him through Katsuya-kun. There was no love lost here. It was a very hostile relationship that had no discernable beginning. The blond told him that Kaiba just started teasing him out of the blue, with no provocation at all. Somehow, two and two were making three. There was a missing factor in Brittinia’s head about the dynamics of the relationship. Better to inquire again from Katsuya-kun’s lips than to make erroneous assumptions.

Returning back to the duel, Brittinia drew his card and sighed. The Dragon’s Rage threw him off. He was going to use the Needle Worm / Magic Thorn combo on his turn, then sacrifice both monsters for a more powerful one. But it seems things didn’t work out the way that he wanted. This duel was not going to last another 16 turns.

The silver-haired man looked at his cards. He had another Monster Reincarnation, Card Destruction, Megamorph, Tri-Horned Dragon and Pot of Greed in his hand. Vorse Raider, Gravekeeper’s Servant, and Magic Thorn are the field. He had one shot at this.

“I remember” Brittinia spoke, “an article written about your friend, Yuugi, after he won Duelist Kingdom and defeated Pegasus. In the article, Yuugi attributes the reason that he got the cards he needed at the right time to believing in something called the Heart of the Cards. I thought it was silly to think that, but then I met you. I have your file in my desk and it shows all of your life’s history, including the duels you’ve won. I have a theory about the Heart of the Cards. I believe that it is the faith in yourself that you have against overwhelming odds and the faith in your friends that they have your back. From this, miracles are born.” He smiled at his charge. “Katsuya-kun, I want you to know that I already consider you my son and I am very proud of you. What you accomplished is nothing short of amazing. No matter the outcome of this duel, I am very happy that you are my charge.”

Jou felt the onset of tears in his eyes at the words that his social worker said to him. So, the feeling was mutual. He was in a good place, the blond realized. Even if Kaiba didn’t return his love (should he confess), at least he was loved by all the people here (save the two figures). “I thought we were dueling, not sharing our feelings.” He joked.

Brittinia smiled even brighter at Jou. “Okay then. Here’s goes. I activate my Pot of Greed. I draw two cards.” He looked at his new cards, Tremendous Fire and Spirit of the Harp.

“I activate Tremendous Fire. You lose 1000 life points and I lose 500.” The life point counter dropped at the activation of the card. “Next I place two cards facedown.” He placed his Megamorph and Monster Reincarnation facedown.

“After that, I play Card Destruction.” Both duelists discarded their hand and drew cards equal to the amount they lost. Brittinia looked at his hand and saw another Gravekeeper’s Servant and Gilasaurus in his hand.

“I special summon Gilasaurus with its special effect.” Brittinia continued with his turn. “However, you are now allowed to special summon one monster card from the graveyard onto the field.” Gilasaurus was summoned on the field and Jou summoned his Red Eyes Black Dragon.

“You played an excellent game today, Katsuya-kun.” The braided man commended. “But the game is mine. I play Monster Reincarnation. This card allows me to send one card to the graveyard to regain one monster card in my hand.” He discarded his Gravekeeper’s Servant for his Tri-Horned Dragon.

“Next, I sacrifice Gilasaurus and Vorse Raider for my Tri-Horned Dragon.” A large blue dragon with three great horns on its head appeared on the field with a loud roar. “Finally, I play Megamorph. Since my life points are less than yours, I can double the attack strength of my Tri-Horned Dragon. Its attack power is now 5700.”

He looked at the two dragons on Jou’s side of the field. From his sessions with the blond, he knew that Katsuya-kun had an affinity to the Red Eyes, so he decided not to attack it. “Tri-Horned Dragon, attack Thousand Dragon.”

With a bright holographic flame, Brittinia’s dragon laid low Jou’s dragon and took out the rest of his life points. The rest of the holograms disappeared after Jounouchi’s life points reached zero.

Yuugi and the group were heading to the arena’s exit when they ran into Kaiba and his personal assistant. Honda growled at Kaiba and looked at him with challenging eyes. “What are you doing here, Kaiba?” he threatened. “Don’t you bother enough Jou at school?”

Kaiba smirked at Honda. “Well, I’m here because I own the place.” He mocked. “And if you throw a little fit here, I will have to tell security not to let you in this place.”

Honda’s rage was barely kept in check. Yuugi and Ryou had to calm him down.

Mokuba went to his brother and Shizuka followed hesitantly. “Nii-sama, what are you and Sakura-san doing here?” He asked. “I thought you were going to be in the office all day.”

”I need the improvements list and the other forms you have been working on.” The CEO responded. Sakura looked at her boss and snickered. Kaiba looked at her. “What is so funny?”

“You are very quick-witted at times, Boss.” The long-haired assistant smiled. She then looked at Mokuba and his friends. “So these are your friends, Mokuba-kun?”

“Yeah, Sakura-san! Allow me to introduce you them.” He pointed them out as he introduced them. “That’s Yuugi-san, Anzu-san, Honda-san, and Ryou-san.” Then he looked at his girlfriend and smiled. She smiled back. “This is Shizuka, my girlfriend. Shizuka, this is Sakura-san, Nii-sama’s personal assistant and acting Vice President.”

After the two women shook hands, Sakura gave a saucy wink to Mokuba, which caused him to blush.

Kaiba, aware how awkward this was going to become, cleared his throat. “Sakura, Mokuba, and Shizuka, could you please come with me? I would like to talk to you away from prying ears.” He looked at Honda as if to prove his point.

Honda was boiling mad. “If you got something to say to Shizuka-chan, then you can say it in front of all of us.”

Kaiba kept his cool. “It has nothing to do with you.” Then a funny thought came to his head. “Are you the Mutt Pro Tempore?”

The sharkhead teen was confused for a moment. Kaiba sneered at his confusion. “Are you the stand-in for the mutt when he isn’t here to fulfill his duties as the mutt?”

Kaiba started to walk away, which told Mokuba, Shizuka and Sakura that it was time to go. Honda calmed down considerably after the blue-eyed teen left.

”Man, who does that guy think he is?” He asked rhetorically.

Kaiba led Sakura, Mokuba, and Shizuka to one of the benches. He looked at his personal assistant. “Meet me at the administration board in a half hour.” She nodded and left her own way.

The blue-eyed teen then looked at Shizuka. “I am going to say this.” He began. “I am sure that you have heard some horrible stories about me. I am also sure about how I and your brother on not on good terms. But, in respect of my brother and yours relationship, I will not bother Jounouchi.”

Shizuka had heard of some things from Katsuya about how he went to school with the unfeeling bastard Kaiba, how he provoked him to anger with mutt comments, and how he picked on him for no reason. Somehow, she could not equate the cold, unfeeling bastard that Katsu-chan made him out to be with the teen confessing that he would not bother his brother again. But if he was sincere about this, then how could she have any objection.

“I’m not the one you should be telling that to.” The strawberry haired lass told the CEO. “It’s Katsu-chan.”

Kaiba nodded once in Shizuka’s direction and was off to find Jounouchi, leaving a confused girl to wonder why Kaiba would choose now to make amends and what was the real motivating force behind it.

Brittinia got Jounouchi some food and they sat down for the session. “Don’t feel bad about losing. At least you came second out of two.”

Jou’s jaw dropped as the social worker laughed at him. “I won’t lose next time.” With that, he joined the man in laughter.

As soon as they calmed down, they talked about the things that happened to Jou during the week, which including when he found out about Shizuka’s relationship with Mokuba and the failed date with Mai. He did not, however, tell his social worker about the rising feelings he felt about a certain CEO.

Brittinia listened intently to his charge, especially the part about the date. But yet, he had taken too many psychology classes to know that Jou wasn’t telling the whole story. So he decided to ask him a couple of question.

“So, Katsuya-kun, why did you go on the date with Mai-san?” he asked.

Jounouchi was taken aback with the question. He thought that Brittinia would ask how he felt about the event. “I guess I saw my friends making out and felt as if I could find a kindred soul in Mai. So I guess I just asked her out to see if she felt the same.”

Brittinia caught nervous movement from Jou’s hands. He was leaving something out. “You can’t force love Jounouchi.” He told his charge. “It has to be mutual; otherwise, it could be destructive.” He was reminded of the conversation that he had with Jou at the party about having erotic dreams with the one he hated. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he froze a bit when he saw Kaiba at the duel. The red-eyed man would find out.

“So, you kissed her and you didn’t feel that spark.” The social worker inquired. Receiving a nod from Jou, he continued. “That must mean that you felt something in that dream you were telling me about at the party that you didn’t feel with Mai-san.”

Brittinia was dead-on. “Maybe I’m suppose to give it time.” Jou replied.

“But if you are already judging by a standard, it would be pretty difficult to abolish that standard.” The long-haired man supplied. “Perhaps you are trying too hard to abolish that standard that you are missing the joy that you could be having with that person in your dreams.”

“But even if I did like that person, that person doesn’t like me.”

Brittinia was quite aware that Jou was using the word ‘person’ over and over. If it was a woman, then he would have not been using that word but the pronoun ‘she’. Maybe, he was connecting the dots right and Jounouchi was gay. There was a way to find out. He would surreptitiously drop words that would lead to that conclusion. If he doesn’t deny it outright, then Brittinia would be right in assuming that Katsuya was undergoing Sexual Identity Crisis.

“How are you so sure that he doesn’t like you?” Brittinia started the subterfuge.

“Well, it all started when we met in high school.” Jou took the bait. “We were both freshman at the time and I was looking for some new friends besides Honda, of course. I saw this kid sitting on a bench by himself and I decided that I would be his friend.”

“So, I am guessing that he wasn’t kind to you when you wanted to be his friend.” The social worker asked.

“Not at all!” Jou spat. “He called me horrible names when I did nothing to him.”

“Perhaps he wasn’t having a good day.”

“I thought that too, Bri-kun. But I tried for several days and he still wouldn’t budge. That’s when it all started.”

Brittinia realized that Katsuya-kun was very comfortable talking about the person with a gendered pronoun. Now would be the final test. He would drop Kaiba’s name. “And you and Kaiba were at each other’s throats ever since.”

“Yeah!” Jou agreed, not realizing that his secret was out now. “And that’s how it was until Battle City when something happened the day when Yuugi finally asked Anzu out. I have been having dreams about Kaiba in very sexual …” Now Jou caught on. “Did I admit that I have been having dreams about Kaiba?”

Brittinia nodded in the affirmative. “Katsuya-kun, are you gay?”

Jounouchi Katsuya looked his social worker in the eye. Tears formed but he wouldn’t let them fall. He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving the man he considered to be his father. “Are you disgusted with me?”

“Katsuya-kun, you’re my kid. Whether you’re gay or not doesn’t matter to me. What matters to me is your happiness. If you are denying your happiness, it makes me sad.”

“What do I do?” he asked.

“Well, you’ve admitted to yourself that you are gay. Perhaps, when you are more comfortable with the idea, then you can admit it to your friends. Whether they hate you or not, I promise you will feel better with that out of the way. Now I won’t tell you to admit your feelings to Kaiba, but it might be something to think about. And if he should reject your feelings, then at least a weight will be off your shoulders.”

Jounouchi could understand Brittinia’s sage advice. He hugged the man who acted like a father to him. “Thanks so much.”

Kaiba was walking around the park. Not that he was looking for someone in particular, he just liked the idea that the ground he was stepping on was his. His feet led him to an isolated park bench overlooking a beautiful hill range. But something on the bench caught his attention, or rather someone. It was Jounouchi and he was looking at the scenery. The blue-eyed teen wanted to talk to him about their younger siblings’ relationship.

“Jounouchi!” He called out.

As Jounouchi turned around to see who called his name, he realized that it was Kaiba, the guy that he was talking about not a few minutes ago. A blush came to his face as he turned around to face the other direction. “What do you want, Kaiba?” Annoyance crept out of his voice.

“We need to talk.” Kaiba could not believe what he was doing as he sat down with his supposed worst enemy. Remembering that it was all for Mokuba, he took a deep breath and began again. “We need to talk about out younger siblings’ relationship.”

At the mention of his sister, he turned around to stare at the beautiful face that haunted his dreams. “What is it?” he answered softly.

Kaiba was surprised at the response he got from the normal fiery teen. There was an unusual softness on his face. Normally, because of the way that he teased the blond, his face became more angular. Now he could see the lines disappear and it made him attractive. However, he continued. “Since they are going out, I feel as if we should not let our own feelings interfere with their relationship. So, I am proposing that we just call a truce to our rivalry.”

Jou was shocked. Kaiba, the Kaiba Seto, willingly came to him to bury the hatchet. Perhaps this was the start of how he could at least start a friendship with him. “I would like that.” For some strange reason, he felt himself inching towards Kaiba on the bench.

”Truce?” Kaiba held out an elegant hand. Jou only stared at it for a while before grabbing it and shaking it with his own calloused ones.

When their hands met, there was something like an electrical charge that flowed through them. The shake lasted for a second, but neither let go of the other’s hand, content with only staring at it. Their hands molded together, as if it were made for each other.

Kaiba felt himself inching towards Jounouchi. His sapphire eyes locked on to amber ones. Suddenly, he could see that the space between his face and the blond’s face was shrinking. This was reminiscent of the dreams he has been having.

Jounouchi could feel his warm breath tickling his lips. Why were they this close when they just agreed to a truce?

Then all was still as their lips met. It was hesitant, shy and unsure of itself, but the spark was there. The kiss was innocent, but it started to increase in passion. And then it was over.

Seto’s eyes brimmed with passion. Reality superseded dreams as the kiss with the blond was more intense than anything he ever felt.

Katsuya felt a tingly feeling throughout his whole body. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Seto wasn’t calling him a fag or anything like that.

But this was happening way too fast. He just confessed to his social worker that he was gay when he barely understood it himself. He needed some time. “This is happening too fast.” Katsuya shot up and ran, ignoring Kaiba asking him to wait.

He needed to think about what is happening.