He was bouncing. Why was he bouncing? He stretched, screwing his eyes shut tightly. He felt the hot sun on his face and knew he got up late again. But he'd had a late night, so he forgave himself. He'd been doing a lot of that lately.

Something grabbed his hand and pulled, and he had to open his eyes. It was Mokuba, jumping up and down on his bed in his pyjamas, still holding his hand captive.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, exasperated. He flopped down next to Kaiba. "Jeez, what took you so long to wake up?"

"Mokuba, what time is it?" His voice was hoarse and his throat dry.

"Umm…nine something."

He groaned, and reached for the pitcher of water and glass on the bedside table. He poured himself a glass, and drank it thirstily.

"So! How was the party?" Mokuba asked enthusiastically.

"How do you know I went?" Kaiba enquired grudgingly.

"Please," said Mokuba. "I'm not five years old. You smell like alcohol and –" Mokuba sniffed confusedly "– like soap."

Soap? Oh, the bubbles. He looked down, realising he was still wearing the same clothes from last night. He was really tired when he came home and had crawled straight into bed.

"Well?" Mokuba was really impatient this morning.

"It was fine," he said. Which was true. He'd leave it at that and omit the part about Jou for the time being, he'd deal with that later. Omitting wasn't lying, exactly.

"Anything happen I should know about?" Mokuba innocently asked.

"Like what?" Kaiba asked warily. Did his brother have some kind of sixth sense?

"You know what I mean," Mokuba said knowingly. Kaiba frowned slightly.

"You mean the friend thing? That's…that's going fine." He hated leaving Mokuba out of the loop like this.

"I'm sure. Someone was pretty friendly with you last night," Mokuba said, rolling his eyes.

"What? What are you talking about?" Now he was baffled, wondering how Mokuba knew all these things he wasn't supposed to.

Mokuba was laughing at Kaiba's face now, kicking his legs up in the air. "Your – your neck," he managed to gasp out.

"My ne-" Kaiba stopped and vaulted out of bed, dashing to the mirror in the bathroom. He flicked on the lights, and there, on his neck, was a lovely purple hickey, to match his lovely purple temple and the lovely purple marks on his arms. A matching set. Ownership complete. He sighed heavily and slowly made his way back to his bed, wondering what to tell Mokuba. The truth was necessary now.

"Well, who is it?" Mokuba asked eagerly.

Kaiba sat down on the edge of the bed, and regarded Mokuba seriously. When the words "Katsuya Jounouchi" tumbled from his lips, Mokuba looked blankly at his brother for what had to be a full minute. Then he burst into laughter.

"Very funny; who is it for real?"

When he saw Kaiba's very stern (and now slightly annoyed) face, he stopped laughing immediately.

"Are you serious? Are – are you serious?" His jaw was slack, and his eyes wide.

Kaiba rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair. "I'm afraid so. As much as it pains me to admit it."

"So you - and Jou - are…" Mokuba gesticulated jerkily in the air.

Kaiba nodded matter-of-factly, waiting for Mokuba's outraged protests in the ensuing lengthy silence. He was instead greeted with the sound of hysterical laughter. He looked on, stunned, as Mokuba's raucous guffaws dislodged him from the edge of the bed and sent him tumbling to the floor. He lay at Kaiba's feet, rolling around in laughter, and Kaiba had the distinct impression that he was being made fun of.

"Oh – oh jeez, that's good!" Mokuba ground out hoarsely. "No! Really!" he continued, seeing Kaiba's irritated face. "You guys are – are per- per- perfect for each other!" he said honestly, trying as best he could to keep the giggles from his voice. A fresh round of cackles then erupted from Mokuba, and Kaiba had had enough. He picked Mokuba up and threw him out of the room.

He sighed, and made his way to the bathroom. Is that the way Jou's friends would react when he told them? Could Jou stand the embarrassing laughter and shocked stares? He snickered softly. He knew they sounded laughable. But he also knew somehow that they could be something together.

Last night (this morning), somewhere between the tentative conversation, nervous smiles and exploratory kisses, they had reached a common ground – each other. No matter how self-conscious they got, or how awkward things became, Kaiba never stopped feeling that he had made the right choice, that they belonged together. They'd make it work somehow. They'd overcome whatever got in their way together. They'd both risked a lot for each other, and Kaiba was going to make sure they hadn't done so in vain.

"No what ifs," he muttered to himself as he shrugged off last night's clothes, ready for a good shower. "No what ifs."