Pedestals

by: iloveatem

Jounouchi looked with amused embarrassment at the three girls peering up at him with awe and curiosity. One even had the audacity to poke Jounouchi's waist and giggle when he gave her an incredulous look.

"Onii-chan…these are my friends," Shizuka said, smiling brilliantly next to her brother and presenting them in turn with a wave of her hand.

"Tsuki," a short girl with shoulder-length, black hair in curls so tight, Jounouchi wondered if perhaps her hair could reach to her knees if it was straightened. She looked vaguely curious.

"Tori." Hair dyed a bright orange with a huge purple, polka-dotted bag slung over one shoulder. She glared with intense emotion at him.

"And Chizu." Just as strange as her name, Jounouchi figured, as she was now hugging him tightly around the waist. She had been the one to poke him, he recalled.

"So you're the famous Katsuya-kun?" Tori asked boldly, giving him a critical look. Jounouchi shrugged.

"Famous?"

"Oh, with as much as Shizuka-chan talks about you, yes!" Chizu exclaimed, having apparently found it now safe to release Jounouchi. He smiled awkwardly.

"Flattered, really," he said.

He felt slightly out-of-place, which was strange for him. He usually got along well with the people he met without really trying. He was outgoing and nice, funny and attractive; people were drawn to him. But now, standing in the middle of the sidewalk outside the strangely alluring gates of an unfamiliar neighborhood park, in front of four of his sister's closest friends, he felt self-conscious. He loved his sister with all his heart; what if he embarrassed her? He didn't know what she had told them. Jounouchi was not oblivious to the pedestal his sister put him up on (although he had no idea as to why). What these girls had heard; what if he didn't live up to their expectations?

He took a deep breath and assessed the eyes currently staring at him, broadcasting an array of emotions from interest to boredom. Regardless of how nervous they may be making him, he was grateful for them. He knew that these girls were who Shizuka turned to when her brother was not around --something that occurred too frequently for his liking. He would try his best to give them a fun time; after all, it wasn't every day that he could make it out to his sister's town.

"Ah…so…what are the plans for today?" Jounouchi said, his mood restored to its usual optimism.

"We were going to get ice cream, then maybe walk around for a bit," Shizuka said happily. Tsuki looked at her watch.

"If we want to get ice cream, we better make it snappy. It's almost 3:30," she said. Chizu gasped.

"Oh my god! How much time do we have?" she exclaimed, then, without waiting for an answer, began walking briskly towards the park entrance.

"Where's she going?" Jounouchi asked, a bit confused by her behavior. Shizuka smiled.

"There's an ice cream vendor in the park. She probably went to get in line."

The four of them followed suit, maneuvering their way through the many narrow sidewalks that wound haphazardly through the park lawns, following the rapid clacking of Chizu's bright yellow platform boots.

"Hey, ice cream on me, k?" Jounouchi offered, pulling out his wallet when they reached the stand to check how much money he had.

"Oh, no, Onii-chan, you don't need to do that!"

"Nonsense," Tori said. "If the man wants to pay, let the man pay." Jounouchi gave her a grateful grin.

"You guys get anything you want," he said.

"You shouldn't have said that," Tsuki murmured so that only Jounouchi could hear. He looked at her curiously. She took a meaningful glance at Chizu. "You'll see," she clarified.

Chizu bounded to the counter. "Three scoop triple chocolate fudge brownie chunk with sprinkles, nuts, oreo bits, three cherries, and caramel drizzle on a large, chocolate-dipped waffle cone, please!" she rattled off in an impossibly practiced puff of air. Tsuki hummed knowingly.

After all orders were taken (the rest much more simpler than the first), the party congregated towards the large play area near the edge of the park. They spread out over two benches about six yards from the swings.

"What time is it?" Chizu asked eager, balancing her much too large treat easily in its cone.

"3:25," Tsuki answered. The girls each gave an excited murmur and looked meaningfully at one another.

"Um…what exactly are you guys waiting for?" he asked. Tsuki, who was nearest to him and licking her own lemon popsicle, answered.

"You'll see. Give it another four minutes." So he did, curiously lapping at his chocolate cone. It was at precisely 3:30 that Shizuka whispered urgently "Look!" and pointed inconspicuously towards the other side of the jungle gym. Jounouchi squinted in that direction, making out only two moving figures. A little time later, they became clear. Jounouchi twitched.

It was a tall, brunet man, in a nicely tailored suit, walking while holding his jacket in one hand and clutching the hand of a child, a boy not eight years old, in the other. The boy had wild, black hair that reached the middle of his back and wide, gray eyes. By the way he was dragging the man forward, it appeared the boy was much more eager to reach the play structures than his caretaker.

Eventually, they were close enough that the group could hear the boy's excited shouts.

"Swings, Nii-sama! I want to go to the swings! Come on, Nii-sama! You're so slow!"

'Nii-sama' responded, but they could not hear what he said.

"Isn't he just dreamy?" Chizu asked airily, her ice cream melting down her arm. She hardly seemed to notice. Tori murmured in agreement.

"And he's so cute with his little brother, isn't he?" Shizuka added. The rest of the girls nodded.

Something in Jounouchi clicked.

"You guys sit here every day and watch him come and go?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, no," Tsuki said. "He only comes here every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday."

"And he only stays for an hour," Chizu said, sounding as if that was the saddest thing that could ever happen.

"We're not stalkers, Onii-chan!" Shizuka said after noticing the look on her brother's face. "We just like watching him, that's all."

By now, the man had picked up his brother and plopped him into the swing and was now pushing him back and forth. The boy's excited laughter drifted towards them.

"Have any of you ever…talked to him?" he asked. He was met with four pairs of disbelieving eyes.

"Of course not, Onii-chan!" Shizuka said.

"We've tried…and failed, many times," Tori added.

"The closest we've gotten is that tree over there," Tsuki pointed to a tree several feet from their benches.

"We just get so embarrassed," Chizu squeaked.

Jounouchi cocked an eyebrow. "He's just a person, like the rest of you."

"Oh, but he's so gorgeous!" Chizu breathed, and the rest nodded quickly.

"Maybe he wants to be talked to; you ever think of that?" Jounouchi asked, trying his hardest not to laugh.

"But what if he doesn't, Onii-chan? He'd probably get annoyed with us."

The conversation ended for a moment. They all watched the man attentively as he pushed the child higher and higher, his suit jacket slung lazily over the fence behind him.

"Hey," Tsuki said suddenly, her gaze landing on Jounouchi. "Why don't you go talk to him?"

There was a short period of time when everyone digested that information.

"What?" Jounouchi said.

"Yea, you're easy to get along with," she added.

"Not to mention a whole lot braver than us!" Chizu said, getting excited.

"That's actually…a good idea," Tori said thoughtfully.

"Yea, Onii-chan! Why don't you go over there and strike up a conversation?" Shizuka was bouncing in her seat.

"Why? I'm a guy. What good would that do?"

"It doesn't matter if you're a guy," Tori scolded.

"Just go see what he's like. That's all we want," Tsuki suggested.

"We've never spoken a word with him," Shizuka said. "This would at least be one step closer."

"Yea! Come on!" Chizu prodded, all traces of her ice cream forgotten.

"Ah…I don't know…" Jounouchi mumbled.

"I'll give you five bucks if you can get his name," Tori said, whipping the bill out of her pocket. This started an explosion of conversation.

"Eight dollars if you can get him to laugh!" Chizu said.

"Ten dollars if you can get his phone number!" Shizuka added.

"Twenty dollars if you can hug him," Tsuki joined in.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down!" Jounouchi said, laughter in his tone. "Okay, okay, I'll do it, but it's just so you girls can realize that you shouldn't put guys up on a pedestal like this," he stood up, cracking his neck side to side.

"Does that mean we don't have to pay you?" Tsuki asked.

"Hell no! You keep that money out. I'm going to be getting all of it when I get back."

"Who'd have thought you'd be the type to scam little girls out of their allowance money?" Tori asked. Jounouchi shrugged.

"Hey, you offered. And besides, I'm kind of broke now after that ice cream," he looked accusingly at Chizu's nearly completely melted mountain of frozen dairy product.

"Go on, Onii-chan," Shizuka encouraged, smiling sweetly. Jounouchi took a deep breath, tossing away his resolve, and began walking towards the swing set.

He had just entered the woodchip pit where the swings were located when the man gave the first sign of noticing Jounouchi. The blond made his way to the single, unused swing hanging idly beside the one being used by the boy and sat down.

He could see the girls, huddled now all on the same bench as if for their own emotional support, watching him intently. They were whispering to one another, and Jounouchi wondered if maybe they didn't think he could do this. Well, they would be surprised. He had an advantage that they didn't know of.

Although, he also considered the possibility that it was actually a disadvantage.

"Hey, Kaiba," Jounouchi said, not looking away from his audience.

"Bonkotsu," was the response. The boy Jounouchi knew to be Mokuba giggled loudly as he swung higher.

"What are you doing here?" Jounouchi asked, leaning against the medal chain that held the swing up.

"I would think that that would be obvious." As if to solidify his point, Mokuba screamed in excitement at an unusually hard push that sent him nearly parallel to the ground.

"No, I mean, why this park? Domino has a nice park," Jounouchi clarified, if a bit harshly.

"This one isn't as crowded," he answered. "And the people here don't know me, so they leave me alone."

"Nii-sama, Nii-sama!"

"What is it, Mokuba?"

"Let Jounouchi push me! Please!" The swing was slowing down because Mokuba had stopped propelling it with his legs. "Come on, Nii-sama!"

"Ah…" Kaiba frowned, looking a bit doubtful.

"Let me push the kid, Kaiba," Jounouchi said pleasantly, standing up and moving to where Kaiba was. He shrugged and moved to lean against one of the swing set poles.

Jounouchi began pushing Mokuba, and the boy laughed with more enthusiasm. Out of curiosity, he glanced at the girls on the bench. All of them were staring at him in wide-eyed amazement. He couldn't help but laugh to himself.

"Why are you here, Bonkotsu? It isn't like you to leave your friends on a weekend."

Jounouchi grinned. "You see that cute girl over there with long, auburn hair?" he asked.

Kaiba glanced subtly in the direction Jounouchi had indicated. "No. But I do see a girl with long, auburn hair."

Jounouchi growled at him.

"So, who's she? You're girlfriend?" Kaiba didn't look too interested in the conversation they were having, but Jounouchi decided to keep it up. He wasn't about to give up now.

"My sister. She lives in this town. I visit her whenever I can." Kaiba was smart, Jounouchi knew. He would be able to figure out what that implied. Divorce, difficult relationship with parents, perhaps even money troubles. If he knew what was good for him, he wouldn't bring it up.

Apparently, Kaiba did. It was silent for a bit, where the only thing heard was Mokuba's sound effects for when the swing went up and when it came back down.

"Those girls," Kaiba said slowly, interrupting the tranquil atmosphere, "they're here every time I'm here." It was an open ended question. Jounouchi decided to answer.

"They're…fond of you."

"They don't know me."

Jounouchi gave him a side glance. "You're telling me you're not used to random girls you don't know staring at you and giggling?"

Kaiba looked at him. "I don't notice these things, so no. But it's hard not to notice them when they're the same people at the same place every week."

Jounouchi sighed. How could Kaiba not notice all the girls? They were everywhere, all the time. For god's sake, even Jounouchi noticed!

"I want to go play on the slides!" Mokuba demanded. Jounouchi slowed the swing so he could hop off. He went running towards the collection of different sized slides on the other corner of the playground. Luckily, it was still mostly in plain sight of the girls.

Kaiba followed after his brother slowly. He cocked an eyebrow when Jounouchi made to follow.

"Aren't you going to go be with your sister?" he asked, not like he was shooing Jounouchi off, but like he couldn't understand why he was still there.

Jounouchi smiled sheepishly. "Yea, now, this is where things get interesting."

"Oh?"

"Yea, see, I was kind of bribed to come over here and talk to you."

Kaiba paused his walking and looked at Jounouchi.

"Bribed?"

"Yea, see, they're too chicken to come over and say anything to you," Jounouchi ignored the muttered 'thank god' from Kaiba, "And so they peer-pressured me into confronting you."

"Do they know that we're already acquainted?"

"Ah…not exactly. I'm not sure how that would affect my profits, you see."

"Cheating your own sister. That's an all-time low, even for you," Kaiba said. Jounouchi shrugged.

"They're the ones that offered without asking any questions first," Jounouchi responded shamelessly.

Kaiba continued on his way to the slides, Jounouchi in tow. "So, how much have you accumulated thus far from our little conversation?"

"Curious?"

"A little. It's interesting to see how much other people believe I'm worth."

"Sorry to disappoint," Jounouchi didn't sound it at all, "but as of right now, I've made a total of zero dollars."

"You're the one that should be disappointed. You've been conned by four teenage girls. Zero dollars is not a bribe, Bonkotsu, but I can understand how you would make that mistake," Kaiba sounded amused as he stopped to stand idly next to the slides. Jounouchi was suddenly aware that Kaiba had positioned them in perfect view of the bench where their audience sat. If Jounouchi didn't know any better, he'd say Kaiba was enjoying this.

"Shut up, Kaiba," Jounouchi said without much conviction. "If you must know, there were conditions involved in my payment."

"Really now? And what were those?"

"I have to get your name and phone number, make you laugh, and--," Jounouchi faltered. His final condition hadn't registered until that moment.

Kaiba waited, dully watching Jounouchi. The blond scowled.

"And…?" Kaiba asked.

"And…I have to hug you."

Kaiba nodded as if that were the most normal thing in the world. "Well, none of that seems too difficult. Although, I'd give up on the phone number thing if I was you."

"I figured."

"Smart dog. So, go ahead."

Jounouchi blinked. "Go ahead…what?"

"Make me laugh, Bonkotsu."

Jounouchi was taken aback. He would never have considered that Kaiba would actually play along with this. He figured Kaiba would just laugh at him (Jounouchi would still be able to get his money this way) and shoo him off.

"Oh…well, uh, what do you find funny?"

Kaiba frowned at him. "Isn't that your job to find out?"

"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?"

Kaiba smirked, turning his attention back to his brother. "No."

"You remember that calculus test we had last week?"

Kaiba nodded.

"I failed it."

"That's pathetic. We spent a week reviewing," Kaiba said in disgust.

Jounouchi peered closely at Kaiba's face. "No laughter, huh?"

"Why would I laugh at that?"

"You seemed the type to enjoy other people's failure."

"I do," Kaiba said. "But not when it's so incredibly pitiful."

"Ah, well, that's something," Jounouchi said drearily. Kaiba's eyes were once again following his monkey-like brother as he worked his way through every challenge the jungle gym could offer.

"Knock knock!" Jounouchi offered enthusiastically.

"…Seriously?"

"Knock knock," Jounouchi insisted. Kaiba sighed.

"Who's there?"

"Interrupting cow."

Kaiba looked at him critically. Jounouchi grinned.

"Interrupting c--"

"Moo moo!"

Kaiba paused. "…You're an idiot."

"Oh, come on! That was hilarious the first time I heard it!"

"You just proved my point. And 'interrupting dog' would have been more appropriate."

"Ok, listen," Jounouchi moved in front of Kaiba and looked him straight in the eye, scowling in irritation. "Why don't you just laugh so I can go back to my sister and her friends?"

"If you're so frustrated, why don't you just move on to the next condition?" Kaiba asked, and there was a hint of amused curiosity in his dark blue eyes.

"What, the hugging?" Jounouchi asked.

"That's your next objective, isn't it?"

"Ah, yea, but…you know, I was just planning on skipping that one."

"It's not like you to do a half-assed job, Jounouchi, but if you're okay with that…" Kaiba began walking towards to jungle gym to collect his brother.

Kaiba heard the expected "God damn asshole!" muttered behind him and couldn't help smirking to himself. What happened next, though, was less expected.

His eyes widened slightly, and he stopped walking when he felt two strong arms wrap around him from behind and curl around his chest, fingertips clutching lightly at the fabric. He heard several distinct screams of glee from the direction of the bench where the girls were sitting. He felt a face bury itself in the crook of his back.

"You made me do this," he heard Jounouchi grumble into his shirt. He felt his hot breath on his back.

"I did no such thing," he said, keeping his voice steady. After a moment, he added "It'd be wonderful if I could have my arms back now."

Jounouchi immediately let him go. It was eerie being able to feel Kaiba's heartbeat right under his palm.

Kaiba turned to the magnificent sight of a bright red and sheepish Jounouchi, glaring intently at his feet.

"How much did that get you?" Kaiba asked.

"Twenty dollars," he mumbled.

Kaiba raised his eyebrows. "Was it worth it?"

"Chh--" Jounouchi breathed, scratching his arm, "not really."

Kaiba glanced over Jounouchi's slumped shoulder at the bench. The girls were nearly out of it, they were squirming so much. They were craning their necks as if to get a better view of the scene, whispering and giggling to one another openly.

Kaiba got an idea. He looked at Mokuba quickly. The boy was still immersed in his play, pretending the jungle gym was a boat, and he was the pirate captain. He turned his attention back to Jounouchi.

"I think I know of a way that you can get back at the girls for pressuring you into this," he said seriously.

"Really?" Jounouchi looked up at him.

"You may even get more money out of it."

Jounouchi blinked. "What is it?"

"You need to close your eyes." Jounouchi looked suspicious. Kaiba scowled. "You can't do it if you don't close your eyes, Bonkotsu."

"Yea, yea, whatever," the blond abided, frowning. "Okay, they're closed."

Kaiba gathered up all traces of reason and common sense in his brain, put it all into a mental box, sealed up the box with mental packaging tape, and put that box into the darkest, deepest, mental hole he would mentally make. He promised himself that he would retrieve the box later.

He bent down, closed his eyes, and leaned forward.

A light bulb in Jounouchi's head clicked on.

Strangely, kissing Kaiba was a lot easier than hugging Kaiba. Jounouchi figured it was because Kaiba was initiating it, so Jounouchi didn't have to take any responsibility. Where no responsibility was had, chaos could ensue, and nothing made a kiss go from 'good' to 'mind-boggling, knee buckling, sensory overload' like chaos.

Kaiba started out slow. Oh, no, it wasn't his lack of confidence. Everyone knew that Kaiba had that in excess. It was that he wasn't quite sure how much Jounouchi could handle.

He moved his lips slowly and with restraint against Jounouchi's, not at all unlike an animal meticulously mapping out his territory before he marked it. Jounouchi wondered to himself if Kaiba expected, or wanted, him to respond before determining that Kaiba would have told him ahead of time if there were any rules. So Jounouchi went ahead.

Kaiba decided it was much better when Jounouchi was responding. A lot less predictable.

Jounouchi didn't quite understand why he couldn't grab hold of any one train of thought. The word "mind-blowing" did make its way into his consciousness, but it slipped away before Jounouchi could figure out what it meant. He was vaguely aware of some girls screaming somewhere behind him, but he didn't see any significance to it. Instinct told him to make sure that whatever was doing this to him didn't get away, so he wrapped his arms around Kaiba's neck and gripped his fingertips tightly in his hair.

Kaiba was pretty damn happy. He hadn't had a decent kiss in a long time (he was busy, and apparently no one practiced anymore). Jounouchi, however, was a good kisser. No, not as good as Kaiba (he scoffed to himself), but good enough.

And if Kaiba thought about it --he wasn't about to, mind you; he was a tad discombobulated at the moment-- he would have considered that Jounouchi seemed to embody that phrase.

Jounouchi's bangs wisped against Kaiba's forehead. Kaiba wrapped his hands around Jounouchi's waist and halted dangerously close to the pockets on the back of his jeans.

And Kaiba attacked. Screw slow and steady.

Jounouchi found himself on a level he was positive he hadn't visited before as Kaiba kicked down the door to Jounouchi's senses and thoughts and began trashing the place. Everything was completely out of control, and Jounouchi felt like he was going insane. Kaiba was in his mouth, in his shirt, everywhere, and Jounouchi was falling forward and backward and upside down and oh my god, he didn't want it to end.

But, of course, that's precisely when it did. Damn Kaiba and his ability to measure things perfectly, to control himself perfectly, to kiss absolutely perfectly...

"Ah…" Kaiba remarked as he removed his hands from inside Jounouchi's shirt. "Didn't mean for that to happen." He didn't sound sorry at all, Jounouchi noted.

Jounouchi untangled his fingers difficultly from Kaiba's hair. They had grown stiff. "Yes, well, you should be ashamed of yourself!" he said suddenly.

Kaiba was a bit startled. "I should…what?"

"Yes! Ashamed! What's wrong with you?!" he motioned dramatically towards the jungle gym, where Mokuba was busying himself with climbing up and down the rope ladder, and towards the bench where the four girls sat, all redder and gapping wider than Kaiba thought physically possible.

"What?!" Kaiba growled, getting angry, as he normally did when he was getting frustrated.

"There are children present, you stupid pervert!" he ground out through clenched teeth.

"…"

And Kaiba laughed, or as much as a person like Kaiba can laugh, which means it was mostly just a louder and not as mean version of his condescending chuckle, but it would be classified as a laugh to anyone that heard it.

Everything in that sentence was so completely insane! First of all, the only child present was Mokuba, who hadn't been paying attention, and really couldn't care less what his brother did because he trusted him completely. Regardless, Kaiba wasn't one of those people who believed in shielding a child from everything PG13 in the world. If anything, the earlier the child is exposed, the better.

Second, Kaiba was not stupid. Enough said.

Thirdly, Kaiba was most certainly not a pervert. What the hell? He was doing this for Jounouchi, for god's sake --okay, maybe that was a lie, but Jounouchi was benefiting, wasn't he? Of course he was.

Sure, maybe he had gotten a little carried away, but he hadn't heard Jounouchi complaining. He was just as guilty!

And look at them! The girls had enjoyed it nearly as much as Kaiba had. He wouldn't be surprised if they drowned in their own drool within the next couple of minutes.

All in all, Jounouchi was stupid. Stupid Bonkotsu.

"Stupid Bonkotsu." Kaiba smirked and turned on his heel.

"We're going, Mokuba!" he called, making his way towards the gate.

"Coming, Nii-sama!" Mokuba threw himself down the slide and ran to catch up with his brother's long strides.

"Hey…hey, wait a minute!" Jounouchi yelled after Kaiba. "Hey, get back here! Take responsibly, damn you!"

"Children present, Bonkotsu! Watch your language!" and he disappeared behind a corner. Jounouchi saw Mokuba's black hair whip around it seconds later with a shouted "Bye, Jounouchi!"

Jounouchi stood there, fuming. Kaiba had absolutely no right to just up and leave!

But he didn't have time to pout for long. Next thing he knew, he was surrounded by four impossibly jittery teenage girls, all talking and screaming and yelling at once, tugging on his clothes and bouncing up and down.

"Oh my god, what did he say!?"

"Why did he kiss you!?"

"Are you going to see each other later?!"

"What was it like!?"

"Is he a good kisser?!"

"Did he use tongue?!"

"My god! Tongue! Tongue!"

"Hey, whoa! Simmer down, ladies!" Jounouchi didn't think he could handle much more of this. He rubbed his head. "What say we go get something to eat, k?"

"You sure you're still hungry after that, Jounouchi?" Tori asked slyly.

"Ha ha. Come on, move it!" he herded them out of the park.

"Nii-sama, how much do we owe you?" Shizuka asked as they made there was to a Chinese restaurant not too far from the park, the girls still talking excitedly with one another, occasionally throwing a shrugged off question at Jounouchi. He thought for a moment.

"Ah…" he pointed at Tori. "Five bucks for the name."

She handed it to him. "What is it?"

"Seto Kaiba."

Shizuka giggled. "Wow…really? That was him?"

Jounouchi nodded.

"The pictures don't really do him any justice."

"Who? Who is it?" Chizu asked.

Tori tapped her finger on her chin. "It sounds familiar."

Jounouchi shrugged. "I'd tell you, but you're going to Google him when you get home anyway, so…"

"Oh, so true! And here you are, Jounouchi-chan," Chizu shoved eight dollars at him. "And might I say that he has the most bea-utiful, if slightly sinister, laugh I've ever heard!"

"What, you haven't heard me laugh yet?" Jounouchi asked. She shook her head. "It's like a chorus of doves in spring, I tell you."

"Sure," Tsuki muttered. "Oh, and here." She slapped thirty dollars into his hand.

"I thought it was just twenty, for the hug," Jounouchi said, making to give her back ten of it.

"You keep that," she said, grinning. "Ten bucks is cheap for a show like that. I'd have offered you a hundred if I knew you were planning on going that far."

Jounouchi laughed. "Absolutely no planning was done."

"Spontaneity is best, Onii-chan. It's more romantic that way," Shizuka cooed, ignoring her brother's obvious twitch. "Oh, and speaking of absolutely romantic, did you get his phone number?"

Jounouchi looked appalled. "Absolutely not. That kind of thing doesn't matter to guys. We don't stay up late into the night talking about nothing."

"Sexist," Tori stated.

"Fact," Jounouchi countered. "Besides," he continued, turning to Shizuka, "I don't think anyone knows Kaiba's number. It's like one of those strictly confidential, 'punishable by death' kind of things."

"Just who is this guy?" Chizu pushed again. Jounouchi shrugged.

"He's Seto Kaiba."

--

Many hours and questions later, Jounouchi found himself on the train making his way home. It had been a full day. After the park, they had had Chinese food (a lot of Chinese food, and the girls had insisted on paying because Jounouchi was the guest, despite Jounouchi insisting that they don't), then they had all gathered at Chizu's house where they uncovered her collection of junk food and classic movie VHSs. After way too much time eating pure crap and watching corny and predictable, black and white romance scenes, Jounouchi realized that the trains would stop running soon and that he had to leave. He gave a quick and meaningful goodbye to his sister and her friends, who had quickly become his friends, and promised to be back within the month.

He filed off the train with the rest of the late-night travelers. Despite everything that had happened that day, only one thing was on his mind.

Yea. That thing.

His sister and her friends had done an excellent job of distracting him from thinking about that thing all day, but now that they were gone, and he had nothing to look forward to except a long walk, in the dark, to his apartment building, he knew what his mind would eventually land on.

Ah. It was so nice. He had enjoyed it.

It was strange, because it was Kaiba. He didn't hate Kaiba, never had hated Kaiba, and he knew for a fact Kaiba didn't hate him. But kissing was a level he didn't think he would ever reach with the man. They bickered; that's what they did. Perhaps now kissing could be added to that list.

And Jounouchi didn't think that would be too bad. He didn't think Kaiba would be too opposed to it either.

Or maybe it was a one-time thing. Kaiba saw an opportunity, and he took it. Jounouchi spent the rest of his walk home planning other 'opportunities' he could set up.

--

Jounouchi collapsed into his bed, exhausted and full, both physically and mentally. He was glad to have his clothes off. It had been a long day, but he could still feel his shirt riding up his back as Kaiba slipped his hand upward.

Jounouchi turned over and glared at the pile of clothes: the guilty shirt, the jeans whose back pockets Kaiba's hands got way too close to…

Hey, wait a minute.

Poking out of one of those pockets was a flash of white. Jounouchi got up and grabbed the pants.

He always emptied his pockets before falling into bed, and today had been no exception. But he didn't check his back pockets; he never put anything in them.

He pulled a folded piece of paper out of the pocket. He unfolded it.

On it was a line of numbers that looked suspiciously like a phone number.

"No. Way." Jounouchi breathed, turning the paper over. On the other side was a single line of writing.

Half of that money is mine. It's only fair.

Jounouchi couldn't help but laugh out loud. That Kaiba was a sneaky one. When did he even get time to write this?

Jounouchi stuck the paper next to the phone on his bedside table, got back into bed, and turned out the light.

He'd have to call Shizuka tomorrow. She owed him ten dollars.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Very slight AU, if you caught it. Mokuba is younger than canon, and Kaiba is not as famous as he seems to be.

This oneshot, yet another I ran across while meandering through my forgotten documents, is based loosely on a scene from Little Children, a rather disturbing movie, but still worth watching. Sadly, while watching the scene, the first thing I thought about was "I wonder how this situation would work if that was Jounouchi and that was Kaiba." Ah, yes, the trials of fandom obsession...

So, this is what happened. I dusted it off and stuck it up here. I wonder if that was considered a lime. Probably not, but I feel acomplished regardless.

I appreciate reviews.