Venturing: A fluffy, yet tough story about Seto and Jounouchi becoming more than just rivals.

A/N: I originally wrote this story with Seto and Yami as a couple because it made sense at the time.

Seto didn't know what made him venture outside that afternoon. On a normal basis, he disliked having to even set foot outside of the Kaiba Corp compound, especially on a snowy day. As he made his way down the gray sidewalk, snowflakes swirling in the air as his clothing captured the white things, he brought his hands up to his face to blow warm air onto them. He had forgotten his gloves on top of that.

Ah, now he remembered.

He was getting a headache from being in his office for a straight fifteen hours without a break. In those fifteen hours, Seto managed to solve a major problem with the current gaming system his software engineers were working on. He smirked at his achievement that day. The look of shock on those introspective engineers made Seto almost slap them in the face. They were just too humorous. Fortunate for them, the young CEO had merely frowned at their incompetence and threatened to hire new software engineers straight out of MIT if they didn't fix the problems quickly and quietly.

When they had bowed out of the room with their tails between their legs, Seto could feel the throbbing start to resonate between his eyes. He knew it was time for a break, and after grabbing his trench coat and scarf, Seto found himself on the snow-covered street, wandering about the sidewalk to find something to soothe the throbbing.

Ah ha! Seto entered the café, hoping not to earn too many stares. Thankfully, as he made his way to a vacant table, the other customers were engrossed in their newspapers or their partners to care if a world-renowned business mongrel sat amongst them quietly in a darkened corner of the café.

The CEO discarded his snow-covered scarf and jacket onto the closest chair next to him. Glancing over the menu quickly, Seto decided on a regular coffee before pulling out his cell phone to check his missed calls. He thought how peaceful the café seemed as he reviewed his calls.

"Hello!" Seto inwardly groaned at the over-zealous character who seemed to be his waitress. There goes my peace. He just had to get the most energetic bunny in the café, didn't he? Seto didn't look up. He continued to review his calls.

"Coffee, black," he stated icily, hoping to send her off doing her job.

Unfortunately, the little waitress decided to be inquisitive.

"Would you like anything else with that, sir? We have a special on croissants today since its Wednesday!"

The youthful whine in her voice made Seto wince. He glanced at her to guess her age. Short red hair, sparkling brown eyes, and an eye-burning super-wide smile made him grimace in dissatisfaction. She was probably in high school.

Seto returned to his cell phone.

"Coffee, black," he repeated with the same tone.

It didn't damper her super high spirits.

"Sir, are you sure? Are you sure?"

Seto felt his headache return.

"If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't—"

"Yeah, he's sure, miss," came a voice from in front of Seto. The young CEO looked up to see who owned the voice. Surprisingly, a golden-haired Jounouchi stood in front of him, unraveling a scarf from his neck as he smiled boyishly at the little waitress. "Being Kaiba, what he says, goes. Or else, he'd throw a tantrum."

The waitress seemed to relax at Jou's lighthearted intervention. She turned to face him, ignoring the CEO all together. "And what would you like, sir?" she asked sweetly, her smile brightly piercing all in her path.

Seto smirked. "He'd probably eat your café out of house and home," he remarked amusingly, returning his attention to his phone. He heard a snort from Jou's direction.

Jou's brown eyes pierced him for a moment before he told the waitress his order. "Glad to see you noticed me for something," the blonde directed at Seto, making Seto stop what he was doing for a moment. Since when was the mutt so calm about any intention to snare at him? Seto heard Jou sit down at the vacant chair on the opposite end of the small table. The CEO glanced up to see the waitress gone—thankfully busying herself with their orders probably—and Jou smiling at him with those dancing brown eyes.

Seto felt irritated at how familiar Jou was being with him. Personally, he didn't like when people invited themselves to share the same space as him without asking. He opened his mouth to send the youth away as impolitely as possible.

"Sorry to invite myself," was Jou's sudden apology, interrupting Seto. He stared seriously at Seto, his face showing his challenging yet earnest nature. The blonde's calm demeanor was beginning to concern Seto.

What does the puppy want? the CEO found him asking himself quietly.

"I wanted to speak to you about getting a job in your company."

His even, well-pronounced speech especially worried the brunette's mind. Where was Jou's usual rambunctious, ill-spoken self? Did Hell freeze over?

Before Seto could question anything, Jou's smooth voice was reaching his ears again. "Ever since my father became sober, he's been insistent on me learning proper speech. It turns out that my father was once a speech therapist before he and my mother got together. He's even went as far as to home school me."

Seto almost choked on the saliva in his mouth. Speech therapist? Home School? What was the world coming to? The new information made Seto regard Jou more closely. Not only was the puppy's speech and diction different, his appearance was different as well. The long, unruly locks of gold were combed, but it still made Jou look like Jou. His skin looked more lively and clean.

Jou's choice of clothing was different as well. Instead of the dirty jeans, a raggedy T-shirt, and his worn jacket, Jou was clad in a neat jacket, a button-up shirt, and pressed khakis with clean boots. His outer jacket and scarf hung from his chair as the new Jou leaned back in his chair.

Seto had to admit, the puppy looked better than any other day in his life. It made Jou all the more attractive to Seto.

Of course, the young CEO wouldn't admit it aloud.

"Well, it's about time you cleaned up, mutt."

The remark seemed to crush Jou's calm demeanor. A sneer appeared on his lips as the usual short-tempered Jou emerged from his handsome shell. Seto smiled inwardly at how easy it was to perturb such a seemingly drastic and permanent change. Jou was still Jou. It comforted Seto to know that the mutt didn't pull a three-sixty on him in personality.

"Well, it's about time you do normal things, moneybags," came Jou's return, pulling the young CEO back to reality. Blinking, Seto watched Jou stare at him with challenging amber eyes. Only the puppy could make Seto hesitate in an icy comeback.

Before Seto could remark, Jou was speaking again. The solemn expression and his question caught the blue-eyed brunette off guard.

"Why are you here anyways?" Jou inquired seriously, an eyebrow arching with curiosity. "I read Kaiba Corp had its own indoor cafeteria."

Composing himself quickly, Seto merely mirrored Jou's expression, both in half-confusion, half-interest. "You read the Kaiba Corp brochure?"

Brown eyes seemed to dance at the question, but the rest of the blonde's face remained solemn. "Of course. I read as much about the company as I could." To Seto's surprise, Jou blushed as he averted his brown eyes. "But I could only read what was on the website, the brochure, and the annual audit report." He glanced at Seto with those dancing eyes again. "I can't believe Kaiba Corp makes that much in revenue!"

The CEO felt his face warm slightly at Jou's child-like curiosity and memory. It was rather cute to see someone so adamant about boring audit reports. Of course, it wasn't lost to him that the blonde was looking to work inside his company, finding a way to weasel his way in by knowing a few facts about Kaiba Corp. Many of his former assistants and several of his employees could easily rattle off a three hundred-page book of Kaiba Corp knowledge in a few minutes. However, this was the first time Seto actually saw the full excitement of knowing the Kaiba Corp facts in someone's face. It made the brunette smile inwardly.

Seto's blush didn't go unnoticed. Jou watched the CEO more closely. "Did I say something interesting?" asked the blonde.

The brunette pocketed his cell phone. The puppy was being very challenging today. Not that he wasn't every day, but it amused Seto nonetheless.

"Order's up!" interrupted their former waitress, plopping Seto's cup of black coffee in front of him, making some of the liquid spilling on the table. It trickled onto Seto's four-hundred dollar slacks, making him jump up in horror, pain, and anger. The hot coffee stung at his skin under the expensive material. He gritted his teeth together, his headache returning with a pounding passion.

During the commotion, the waitress didn't notice what she had done. Instead, she faced Jou, serving him more calmly his order of coffee. Jou, on the other hand, looked at Seto with concern, rising to his feet. In anger, Seto took a maddened step towards the waitress, opening his mouth to reprimand her icily.

Once his foot hit the floor, Seto felt himself flying backwards, his legs leaving the ground in flight. He felt his entire body float in the air for a few seconds before feeling his precious body slam into the floor. Everything went pitch black and Seto's mind glided away.

A/N: If you're wondering if someone can actually step on liquid and find their bodies hurtling through the air, they can. I've done it before. An old lady helped me up.

Chapter 2: Jounouchi is more trustworthy than he's given credit for.