Source of Eternal Frustration
folder
Yu-Gi-Oh › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
8
Views:
12,011
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
3
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Yu-Gi-Oh › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
8
Views:
12,011
Reviews:
68
Recommended:
3
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, or the characters in it. That honor belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. I do not make any money from these writings, they are strictly for my own and others enjoyment.
Talking
[I come bearing gifts. If anyone wants them :) .
I'm actually getting somewhere with this baby now, huzzarh for random inspiration and procrastination of Uni-work! Updating once a week? Nah. Updating once a month? Nah. Updating once a year? Hell yeah bay, that's what the cool kids do. Please do read and review though, I get so lonely without you people, and my ego turns fragile and uncooperative to true criticism, which is basically what any author yearns to get - criticism and a few cookies now and then. If anyone has the surplus, then if you review, as you are most welcome to do, tell me, what is funny? Because with my strange sense of humor, I may completely miss you people's humor but still be chortling myself.] This fic has been placed in the caring hands of my wonderful Beta; a heart-felt thank you for her hard work.'Kimba LionHeart': http://anime2.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=1296868044. Talking Jou listened half-heartedly as Honda and Yuugi went on and on about how Jou should let Kaiba be, and stop provoking the guy, even though Honda understood fully why he wanted to. He just kept his gaze down on his hands, fighting off depressing thoughts about how Kaiba could have changed his mind, or if he was embarrassed about Jou, or .. There were many possibilities, none of them nice. But, hell, he hadn’t come this far just to give up, had he? He should march up to Se-.. Kaiba and demand an explanation! Just as he had begun tensing his leg-muscles in preparation of getting up, the teacher walked in and started yakking about today’s class and yadda yadda.. Jou sighed internally and settled for talking to Kaiba after class. But still, he could not for the life of him focus on anything the teacher was saying. He tried keeping his attention at the front of the class, but for all his efforts to listen to the middle-aged woman, everything she said went in one ear and out the other. Jou kept looking at Kaiba throughout the class, wondering about how to best confront the CEO. He was looking so calm and collected, which was nothing unusual, but it somehow irked him more than it usually did; how nothing seemed to be able to ruffled the brunettes’ feathers, even when he was being emotional about something, like he had been last night. Kaiba was also looking provokingly handsome today, and Jou felt like he was flaunting his.. his – togetherness in his face. Bastard. Maybe he really had regretted yesterday already, and was going to embarrass Jou in front of everyone. Jou’s hand curled into a fist, and he squeezed harshly, almost making his nails break the tender skin of his inner palm. That was not a nice thought. But he wouldn’t, would he? Not even Kaiba was that much of a bastard. Who was he kidding? Kaiba was the Grand Mal of bastards; he’d do anything he wanted in a heartbeat. How had he ever let Kaiba in? Never mind the, what had in his mind been named the bathroom incident, why had he let him into his apartment? Why had he ever admitted to liking the guy in the first place? Hadn’t everything so far made it perfectly clear fact that Kaiba still behaved like a kid in a candy store, picking up anything he wanted and that he could just as easily drop it again? And then step on it afterwards, just for good measure. Slowly his anger ebbed out a bit, turning to latent frustration tinged with sadness, and his hands unfurled. He looked at his right palm, noting the crescent-indentions from his nails. He really shouldn’t let Kaiba affect him that much. It all came down to power, and Kaiba already had too much of it in basically all other circumstances as well, financially, socially.. It was definitely not advisable to let him have this as well. Aww, to hell with it all, stop thinking about it!! Jou forced himself to look up to the front of the class again and try to focus. The teacher was waving around a stack of papers and pointing to the board, marking out what looked like a date, and Jou absentmindedly noted the date in his head. It was probably a field-trip or one more paper she was having them srite. The old hag was crazy about having them write papers for her, claiming that that was the only way she could see who really understood the curriculum. Completely stumping those who just didn’t possess the ability to put their knowledge into eloquent writing or having caught onto her special thing, the way she wanted the paper done or the problem angled. Teacher from hell. She was prone to favoring certain pupils, and those within her good graces couldn’t turn a paper in without getting it back with minimum a B on it. He was definitely not a member of that group. She always gave him a grade of barely passed and even tended to ‘miss-place’ his papers, damn old – The bell rang and everyone got up. Jou got up as well, not even having taken his book out for the class, and slung his bag over his shoulder. He was out the classroom along with everyone else when he almost bumped into Yuugi. “Oh, hey buddy, almost ran you over didn’t I? You should consider growth-hormones; your hair is barely within by vision.” He laughed as he nervously put his hand on his neck as he crooked a grin at Yuugi, focusing on him and pushing the whole Kaiba-issue from his mind. Yuugi began spluttering incoherently and the others laughed and began teasing him as well, as Yuugi tried to direct the attention onto the fact that Atemu was small as well. Jou was about to point out the fact that Atemu had more of a presence, having that regal air and all, when Honda suddenly put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey Jou, why didn’t you turn your paper in?” What? “What?” Jou said with a blank face. “The paper, you know? The one you have been up all night writing?” Honda said slowly, like he was talking to a retarded child. “Oh shit!! I’ll be right back!” he exclaimed as he turned on his heels and rushed back to the class, fighting the current of people going the opposite way. He made his way into the classroom as some of the last few came out, panting as he rummaged through his back and found his paper. “Um, sorry, Mrs.? I forgot to turn in my paper” he said as respectfully as he could manage. She turned from her bag to look at him. “Too late, Jounouchi, you should have turned it in with the others.” She said coolly “I know, but I was.. somewhere else..” he said slowly, coming to a halt, belatedly realizing his mistake of admitting to not paying attention in her class. “So because you weren’t paying attention in class you forgot to turn in your paper, is that how it is?” she said with an angry frown. “Then this should be a good lesson for you to learn.” “I know, I’m sorry. But would you please take the paper? I was up working late last night and I can’t really afford to have any more absence..” he tried desperately to appeal to whatever motherly instinct that may have been dormant in this nightmare of a woman. “No, I cannot Jounouchi. You could have gotten this copy from some other student in the time that you were out of the classroom. I will not tolerate cheating.” “WHAT?” he knew he wasn’t the most diligent student ever to have set foot in her class, but he was NOT a cheater! “I’ve never cheated on a test in my life!” “Maybe not, maybe because you didn’t have the opportunity? It is easier to cheat on a paper.” Jou felt his hurt pride well up and could feel himself start to open his mouth to say something inherently angry and stupid when a cold voice cut through the small universe that seemed to have formed around those two. “I saw him write the assignment, professor; I can assure you that it is all his own nonsense on those papers.” She looked surprised to Kaiba who was standing a few feet behind Jou, his briefcase in hand. Jou instantly shut up, surprise having him going momentarily mute. “Is that so, Mr. Kaiba?” he noted with dejection the polite way she referred to him, “and you will vouch for that?” “I hardly think the situation calls for vouching, but I am speaking the truth.” His voice almost challenging her to call him a liar, as he started moving to the door, like nothing had just happened. “Well, Jounouchi since Mr. Kaiba has assured me that you have written the assignment yourself, I will accept it, but if I find even one sentence that matches one of the other papers, then - ” “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be flayed in public,” Jou’s attention had already shifted from her to the guy currently leaving the classroom like there was nothing unusual in Kaiba saving Jounouchi’s ass. He had enough presence of mind to interject a “thank you, professor,” before following Kaiba out the door. He quickly caught up to Kaiba in the deserted hallway, everyone already having moved to the cafeteria. He reached out and took hold of Kaiba’s arm to stop him. “Hey Kaiba, wait a second.” The other stopped, looking down at Jou with his unreadable blue eyes. Jou gathered all of his courage and frustration from earlier and looked him straight in the eyes. “Are you having second thoughts already? Because if you are, tell me before you tell anyone else.” “No, I’m not having second thoughts. Why do you think that?” Kaiba said in a slightly surprised tone. “You still keep insulting me, you said last night that you would stop doing that all the time” His tone was hard and demanding, but inside Jou felt slightly.. stupid and vulnerable when he said that. Last night he could react in anger when he demand that Kaiba stop, but today he felt like he made himself even more exposed and open to hits, like he was admitting that all the shit the other threw at him actually hit home more than he liked to admit, even to himself. “I did say that I would stop insulting you all the time, but I never said that I would stop pointing it out whenever you do something stupid,” Kaiba answered in matter-of-fact tone. Jou felt hurt, he wasn’t stupid! Bastard. He trained his eyes to the floor, keeping himself as shut off as possible. He heard Kaiba sigh and a hand came to his chin, lifting his head. Blue eyes focused on him, and he could almost, barely, nearly see something in those orbs that suggested an apology. Then he blinked and it was gone. “I’m not having second thoughts, pup. I’m still trying. Old habits die hard, I guess.” Jou realized that that was as close to an apology that he was ever going to get on the subject, and took it for what it was, though he was still pissed underneath the hurt that had momentarily filled him. “Tch..” He shook his head, looking slightly forlornly to the side in a way he hoped looked more annoyed than hurt. Kaiba’s hand held his chin again and forced his head up, tilting so that he could give Jou a kiss that he hoped could placate the youth slightly without the need of emotional words. When they broke apart, Jou felt strangely.. calmer and focused on the other again. “So, can I ask you out for a date tonight? I’ve got a free evening.” He asked as he looked at the lightly blushing blond. “Uhm, sure. What kind of date?” “Just dinner. Somewhere nice.” “Okay.. at 6?” “Perfect.” Kaiba smiled and leaned down again to kiss the other senseless. He felt the other relax into the kiss and couldn’t help the smirk that spread. Then the other tensed slightly again. Jou could feel his mind turning to the thoughts that had kept him up half the night. “Is it okay with you if I tell my friends about this? I’d feel bad about lying to them.” Kaiba felt momentarily exasperated, having hoped to end it there and go have lunch, he had a report that he really should finish today. He looked at Jou and realized that it was important to him. Sighing, he thought it over. “If it changes anything, I think one or two of them has already guessed it themselves..” Jou said slowly with a grimace that suggested that it hadn’t been found out with his good will. Kaiba couldn’t help the slightly annoyed sigh that left him. Jou hurriedly added, “but I could probably ask them to keep it quiet.. Though, maybe not the second one.. I could try, but it might just kinda escalate him..” he looked off as he contemplated how Bakura would react to being told to shut up about something. He’d probably shout it from the roof-tops.. Kaiba sighed. At least the group did have a knack for keeping things secret. Compared to the other possibilities of rumor-making, this was probably a small price to pay. “Sure, you can tell them. But only them.” He stressed the last part as he looked at Jou, and then quickly realized his mistake. Jou had known it could and probably would be an issue, but having it mashed in his face like that, that Kaiba would not publicly be recognized with him still stung. “I’m concerned about the media, Jou.” Kaiba tried to rectify but, only made it worse. “Sure,” Jou started quietly, but his tone grew angrier with each word, “why would you want to be seen in public with a poor tacky dog like me.” “That is not my concern, Jou” Kaiba said, only partially truthful, “it’s the tabloids. It’s not just me who would be having problems. They would dig up everything there is to dig up about you and your background, family-problems, grades, dueling history, everything!” He looked at the other. “I’ve been in the spotlight before, it’s not pretty. You may have character enough to handle it, but I don’t want to take that chance just yet.” Jou understood, but still couldn’t stop his hurt pride from wailing and bleeding and roaring in the corner of his mind. It was just about to burst through when Kaiba continued. “And I would appreciate talking to Mokuba about it first.” In Jou’s mind Shizuka popped in, “I’d to explain it to him and have his opinion. If this turns out to be something lasting, I want him to like you, Jou, and be okay with this, and I’d really rather he finds out from me rather than some glossy front page.” Kaiba was quiet, waiting for Jou’s response. He had played the sibling-card, knowing how Jou felt about his sister, hopefully it would pay off. “Yeah, okay. It’s not even like I would have wanted everyone to know, it’s just kinda, you know.. the principle in the matter, right?” he looked to Kaiba. “So we agree? Your friends can know, but no displays of affection in school.“ “Yeah, deal.” He wasn’t even sure if he was going to tell his friends yet. The media would be a scary and downright infuriating, painful mess, he could see that happening, but it was way scarier at the moment to envision himself telling his gang of friends that he was going out with the guy he had been actively hating and insulting for the last couple of years. He could practically see Yugi’s and Ryou’s huge eyes, Honda’s and Otogi’s jaws drop and Bakura laughing manically about having something even better to hold over Jou’s head than an embarrassing movie. Though it would be funny if he could make Atemu loose his cool and be surprised, it would be nice to throw the guy off-balance, if only for a short time. And maybe they wouldn’t laugh that much when the shock died down. Maybe they would be nice and supportive and… Okay, he acknowledged to himself, some of them would probably laugh their ass of or maybe even be blatantly not-understanding, but Yugi and Ryou and Aetmu would support him through whatever. At least he had those three to count on. Jou smiled and leaned up, kissing the other boldly as his hand rested on Kaiba’s hip. He almost felt like he was doing something dirty, kissing in school when they had just agreed to be private about their relationship. Kaiba wound his arms around Jou and let one hand rest on the blonds’ ass, and as the kiss grew more and more heated he started squeezing. Jou broke the kiss with a light squeak and slapped the hand away. Kaiba smirked and unusual twinkles of amusement could be seen in his normal cold eyes. “Horn-dog..” Jou grumped as he lightly punched Kaiba’s arm and started walking to the cafeteria. Kaiba picked up his briefcase which he had put down and started walking alongside Jou. “I didn’t know you were such a drama-queen.” He said as he looked to the blond. “What? Why am I a drama-queen?” Jou looked outrageously at the tall brunet. “Already asking me if I had changed my mind, that’s kind of insecure, don’t you think?” he teased. “Hmpf.” Jou harrumphed, “excuse me for not being able to read your iciness’s thoughts.” They had made it to the cafeteria and as Jou went to his friends, Kaiba turned and made his way to an empty table where he sat down and took out his laptop. Jou sat down next to Honda and let out a sigh before the questions came. “Jou, why were you walking with Kaiba to the cafeteria? Last I checked you were pretty angry with him?” Yugi asked as he leaned forward to look at the blond seated across from him and two seats to the left. Atemu looked intently at him as well, one arm around his hikari’s back, but all of his attention on Jou. “Yeah, he said you paper sucked, didn’t he?” Honda asked. “Jounouchi’s papers always suck,” Bakura interjected before receiving an elbow between the ribs from Ryou. “Yeah, I barely got the hag to accept my paper –” “And I’m sure it helps that you call her a hag” Otogi interpolated with a laugh. “- because she thought that I had copied it from someone –“ “Yeah, well, she is an old bat” Malik butted in. “- and she wouldn’t have, if Kaiba hadn’t practically vouched for me.” Every single pair of eyes at the table grew larger. “He said that he had seen me write it and would stand by that it was really mine and not some assignment that I had copied from someone else.” “You saying.. that he helped you?” Honda said slowly. Jou could feel the very light blush that came to his cheeks, and he prayed to whatever deity that might be passing by that the artificial lighting somehow made it less noticeable. “Yeah, I guess..” “That’s very.. un-Kaiba-like,” Anzu said as she looked to the CEO across the cafeteria. “Yeah, I guess..” Jou repeated lamely. “Jou, no offense, but why would he help you?” Ryou said as he looked to Kaiba first and then to Jou. Jou was quiet. He didn’t really know what to say. How do you tell people something like this? Maybe he shouldn’t tell them. Yeah, it would be good to keep it to himself, just for now. “Uhm...” “Yeah, did he finally fall off the ban-wagon or did something happen?” Bakura asked with that annoying crazy, hunting look while acting like there was a tennis-match going on between the two tables, following the imaginary ball with his eyes from Jou to Kaiba and back again in an over done manner. Jou’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the former tomb-robber, and he found himself actively wishing that an anvil would drop from the skies and smash that annoying head in. “Jou..?” Ryou asked quietly. “Yeah, okay.. umh.. I guess you are gonna find out sooner or later.. But you gotta promise not to tell anyone!” he started out hesitantly but ended up talking at full speed. He looked at each of their faces, giving a special warning eye to one particular albino. “How can we promise not to tell anyone something that we don’t know?” Otogi said with an eye-roll. “You know what I mean, drama-queen,” Jou said as he poked the other in his side, and it felt good to send the name Kaiba had given him on to someone else. Someone who deserved it far more than he did, if he had to say so himself. “Jou..!” Yugi looked very curious and just a tad bit impatient. “You all swear?” “Yeah, we swear, you crackpot, now what is all the fuss about?” Anzu said. “Uhm.. well, here goes.. Kaiba and I are.. sorta… dating..” he said hesitantly and slowly, sounding like he was searching for the right words. There was quiet at the table. The sort of quiet that was swiftly followed by a raging storm. Then noise and exclamations broke out. “What?” “WHAT?!” “Seriously?” “Hm..” “Oh my god -” “Jou -!” “Hahaha!” “Told you so! You lost tomb-keeper, hand it over! Hahaha!” Bakura barked with laughter as Malik let out a rather colorful string of curses in Egypian even as he found his wallet and handed the laughing albino a crisp bill. ---------- Aah. Don't we all just love Bakura? Next chapter will be coming swiftly (by my standards) and will be the infamous first date.