A/N: People always seem to be going to cafes in my fanfics. Maybe that means my imagination is lacking...? OR that I never do anything really exciting in real life that regular people go out and do. Anyway, enjoy this fic. I was going to stop it about halfway through, but I was having too much fun with them. Title reference to the song, natch. And if you enjoy, review. :)

Raindrops keep fallin'

one-shot

boyslove

Jou x Kaiba

It was raining. Hard. Jounouchi sighed and tugged the collar of his grey jacket closer to his throat. He shivered as his own cold fingers touched the warm skin of his neck, and then he shoved his hand back down into his damp jeans pocket.

The perfectly crappy end to a perfectly crappy day. He'd hit every café, restaurant and pizza place he could find, and all with the same result: sorry, we're not looking to hire right now. It wasn't even his area, but he'd given up on finding work close to home... Not that he really wanted to work in the crappy places in his own suburb. Seemed like times were a little tough for everyone right now.

Jou's feet were tired from walking, but he had no other choice because his bike was in the shop.

And he had no money to get it back out again.

He'd asked Shizuka for a loan a week earlier just to pay his bills. She'd smiled and given it to him, happy to help – she always was, but she was saving for college and he didn't want to ask her for any more if he had no idea when he could pay it back. She didn't have much time for her part time job with university exams, and he didn't want to take away what little she had when she worked so hard to get it. It wasn't like he wasn't willing to work hard, himself, but after the incident at his last job he seemed to have made that kinda difficult for himself.

So what if he'd been fired? A guy had to have some dignity. That rich lady's stupid little dog had hardly been his fault. Probably he shouldn't have got mad and thrown a bowl of soup at his manager, though. Goddamn rich people, thought there was nothin' they couldn't buy.

It seemed dignity and good references were mutually exclusive these days. Nobody wanted you to think for yourself, or have independent thoughts or disagree with company policy. Nobody wanted to be questioned, even when what they were doing was obviously stupid. All they ever wanted you to do was smile, nod and apologise for shit that wasn't even your fault, before profusely thanking someone for something they didn't deserve.

Jou sighed, feeling water drip off his blonde hair, now, down onto his cold nose. Might as well use his last few bucks to get a coffee, then. Maybe the rain would stop while he drank it.

He walked into the first café he saw and he didn't pay much attention to his surroundings until a mug of steaming, viscous black liquid made its way into his hand. He slurped at the cup noisily, then sighed happily. At least he'd be feeling warmer soon.

Probably warmer than when he got home to his one bedroom apartment, where he couldn't afford to turn the heating on.

"Do you really have to drip like that?" an exasperated voice next to him asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry – " Jounouchi apologised as he turned. "I didn't – Kaiba?" Figures. Just when things couldn't get any worse, here was someone to kick him when he was down. He hadn't even seen Kaiba in over a year. Well, he'd seen him on the news now and then.

"Nevermind." Seto Kaiba said, his tone short. "I'll just move seats."

And as Jounouchi stared at him, Kaiba stood and began to gather his papers.

"Hey, I don't have the plague, you know."

"I highly suspect otherwise. Have you been tested yet?"

Jounouchi huffed. "Gimme a break, would you? I just came in for two seconds to sit down. I didn't know I would be dripping filthy water on Seto Kaiba's precious pieces of paper."

"I suppose you also didn't consider the mess you're making for the waitress, or the fact that your seat will be completely useless to other customers once your wet behind gets off it."

Kaiba settled himself three seats along the counter, his papers now neatly arranged to the far side of him, away from Jou, with his laptop open. He typed something while he peered at the screen.

"My ASS is freezing half to death right now. Thanks for your concern over it. But at least if I could inconvenience you, I've done one good deed this day."

To Jounouchi's chagrin, Kaiba did the one thing Jou hated most – he ignored him.

"Hey!"

Kaiba continued to type.

Jounouchi muttered wordlessly to himself, returned his stare to his coffee cup and shut up. He didn't even realise it was empty ten minutes later until he went to take a sip and found that there was nothing left in the mug to meet his lips. He glanced out the window. Still pouring, and rather than the rain easing and lightening the sky, it was getting darker the closer it got to night. The lights had come on overhead, feeble and dim, with only a small reassurance of warmth – the feeling of being in here, not out there.

The cafe was practically empty. The waitress was sitting over at a booth in the darkest corner, giggling at a guy in a highschool uniform. Yeah, he'd really made a lot of work for her, all right. He could hear a radio in the kitchen in the back, and someone clattered dishes, humming along with it.

And him. Seto Kaiba. Kaiba was still tapping away at his computer. Jounouchi wondered what he was even doing here. Weren't big fancy executives only supposed to leave their board rooms and 30th storey offices to catch private jets to exotic foreign locations? He looked dressed for the office. Dark blue suit with a pale blue tie that matched his eyes to stupidly devastating effect. Kaiba uncrossed then crossed his legs and Jounouchi caught a glimpse of ankle boots underneath, soft black snakeskin. The whole outfit probably cost more than everything Jou owned put together. Why did he look so perfect? Bet Seto Kaiba never got caught in the rain. He probably paid to have it stopped at his convenience.

A portly middle-aged man stuck his head out of the kitchen, looked around. He caught sight of the waitress, then sighed.

"Kids," he grumbled. "Hey, buddy," he said to Jounouchi, "You want something else?"

Jou shook his head.

"No? You wanna settle up?"

Jou stuck his hand down into his pocket and pulled out some crumpled notes. He placed them on the tray on the counter. "Thanks," he said.

"Oh, for god's sake," snapped a voice at the end of the counter. "Can't you see he's hungry? Give him a damned burger or something."

Jounouchi was too surprised to even open his mouth, let alone verbalise a response.

"Maybe then his stomach will stop grumbling and I'll be able to concentrate."

The face around the door stared in surprise, then said a quick "Yes, sir," and vanished.

"You – " Jounouchi tried, but the words still wouldn't come. His jaw hung worked soundlessly. Kaiba had ordered him a burger? ... For chrissakes, WHY? I mean, it wasn't like he'd lost weight from starvation or anything; he didn't look gaunt. He wasn't THAT poor yet. Had his stomach really been making noises? Although... He was hungry, that much was true. He just hadn't realised it until Kaiba said something. So... But...

"I'm surprised," Jou said, "That your amazing powers of concentration can't block out a minor irritant like me."

"Minor? Don't flatter yourself," Kaiba said, without looking up. "You are a massive source of irritation. Your clothes are dripping, your stomach is growling, your iPod is on in your pocket and blaring ceaselessly – "

Jounouchi jumped, then fished the mp3 player out – which wasn't an iPod, but a cheap copy. Oh. Yeah. It was on. He was surprised it was still working at all, considering how wet his jacket was.

" – and you keep SIGHING pathetically!"

"...Are you saying that my BREATHING annoys you?" Jounouchi asked., incredulous.

"Yes!"

And then Jounouchi began to snigger even without intending to.

"Something amuse you?" The voice was cold as ice, smooth and deadly as a cobra.

"Anyone would think you're in LOVE to be that distracted by me."

Kaiba's head snapped up from his lap top, finally, and his shocking bright blue eyes met Jounouchi's. Jou inhaled involuntarily. He'd been given some death glares by Kaiba before, but none of them came anywhere near the atmosphere – the stratosphere – hell, the GALAXY – that this one was beaming at him from. It was terrifying. Like things around you could come crashing down and you'd never even notice if you were staring into Kaiba's eyes. What a gorgon.

But he didn't say anything.

After a few moments, Jou cracked another smile. "Uh... I am hungry though. So, thanks."

Geez, he was thanking Kaiba now? Where had that come from? Well, someone had to say something and fill this awkwardness, right? He was pretty sure that he was about as close to being murdered by Seto Kaiba as anyone had ever been. Oh well. Might as well take the tiger by the tail.

You know, so it can spin around and eat you in one gulp.

"While you're giving out charity, I don't suppose you have any job openings?"

Kaiba's eyes widened. He seemed to take a deep breath, and then he turned back to his papers. Maybe the guy was under a little too much stress at the office?

But he sounded almost mild when he spoke – only the usual level of scorn. "I should have known the reason you were lurking around with nowhere to go was that you can't even keep a job."

Jou bristled. "For your information, I've been job-hunting all day."

"Good, then you don't need one from me."

"As if I'd work for you anyway!" Jounouchi retorted. "It'd be about five seconds before you flipped your lid and fired me."

"So you admit that you're useless as an employee."

Jounouchi glared and stood up. "You know, I don't need a burger that badly."

"Sit down, idiot." Kaiba snarled.

"What do I look like, your trained poodle? I'm leaving."

Jounouchi turned to go, but he heard a sound behind him. It might have been Kaiba grinding his teeth. Whoa. Frightening.

"Where are you going to go? Going to walk in the rain? I'm sure you spent your last 500 yen on that coffee and you don't even have money for the bus home. Unless you want to wind up with pneumonia, sit the hell down, shut the hell up, and eat your god damn burger."

Jounouchi glanced back to see one very scared cook holding a plate. On it was a massive burger bun. Huge meat patty. So much mayo! And he could smell it. He thought if he opened his mouth, it might drool before he could speak. Yeah. Dignity and burgers were also mutually exclusive, he decided. He sat back down.

Kaiba snorted.

"What?" Jounouchi asked around a mouthful of burger. He chewed extra loud, just to get on Kaiba's nerves a little bit more. "You should be happy over there. Didn't you just get what you want?"

Kaiba muttered something. Jou wasn't one hundred per cent sure, but it sounded like "Not by a long shot." This was getting more and more weird.

"What are YOU doing here?" Jou asked, after he'd swallowed. The waiter had also brought him a coke, which no one had asked for. He gulped some of it down, anyway. He leaned back on his stool. "Shouldn't you be CEO'ing or something? Ordering a new fleet of ships to transport your latest Duel Monster toys that you had made by poor Chinese children? Or maybe taking over a small family business and crushing their dreams of independent success?"

"Thank you for your interest, but I have already crushed this week's quota of small struggling families. And the children have just been given a pay rise."

What the hell was that? A joke? Jou cracked a smile, just in case it really was. He didn't aim it at Kaiba, though. He aimed it at his fries. Yeah. That'd show 'im!

"It's my day off."

"Day... off?"

"Yes. Those of us who have employment are occasionally allowed to take a break from it. Of course, you are permanently on vacation so you may not understand the concept."

Jou shoved another French fry into his mouth. "For your information, I could have had a fine career as a male escort." Suck on that, buddy.

Kaiba snorted again. "I wouldn't think you'd sink so low."

Jounouchi frowned. "I wouldn't. That's why they fired me."

Now he seemed to have captured Kaiba's interest, probably something that few ever achieved with a lifetime of trying. Kaiba looked him up and down. "Someone fired you for refusing to sleep with them?"

"There's no need to look at me that way, Kaiba. I might not look like YOU, Eligible Bachelor Number One in Tokyo Fashion, but I do okay. Strange as it may seem to you, some people do find me irresistible!"

Kaiba set his jaw. "I think you've confused your words. 'Irritating' is not the same as 'irresistible'."

"There you go again, being irritated by me! No, someone did not fire me for refusing to sleep with them. Someone FIRED me for refusing to FUCK one of our female customers FOR MONEY."

Now Kaiba really did seem speechless.

Jounouchi sighed. It felt good to spit the words out. He shouldn't be so angry, he figured, but instead of getting less angry about it as time went by he seemed to get more and more pissed. Here he was a month later, with no job, not even the possibility of a job, and his boss hadn't even listened to the reason he'd accidentally thrown that lady's poor dog into the salad bar. How was he supposed to know it was in her god damn handbag at the time?

"...And I threw a dog into a salad bar."

Kaiba's face twitched. Then he did something Jounouchi had never seen before; something he could not possibly have predicted. Kaiba began to laugh. His whole face changed. He almost looked like someone Jounouchi could possibly quite... like. As a person.

"You... Threw a dog... into a salad bar!"

"The dog was fine!" Jounouchi snapped.

But Kaiba continued to laugh.

"You threw a dog into a salad bar, because somebody wanted to pay you for sex!"

Jounouchi wanted to throttle Kaiba. For a moment longer. Then he began to see the funny side of things. Not so much that he'd lost his job, but that he was here, bitching about it to Seto Kaiba of all people, who was LAUGHING at him. It was just too strange.

"Yeah." Jou began to laugh, too. "Then I threw a tureen of soup at the boss when he didn't listen to me about what had happened."

Kaiba turned away, put a hand to his head. When he turned back a moment later, he was frowning again.

"Idiot," he said.

Jou stopped laughing. Oh, back to normal so quickly?

"You should have filed a complaint."

"Do I look like I have money to sue anyone? I'm lucky that woman didn't sue me to get crab sauce drycleaned out of the dog."

"I've had enough of this." Kaiba stood, and began to pack his things into a briefcase.

"And just when I start to think you might be human!"

Kaiba glared.

"Oh well," Jou continued, "At least this is the Kaiba I'm familiar with."

The glare became more glacial. "Don't presume that you could possibly be familiar with me, Jounouchi."

Ouch. That voice really was unbearable. Jounouchi suddenly felt himself blush, to his own mortification. "Well, I mean, that's what I mean. I, uh... I don't know you. I mean, I know this you but not... you."

Kaiba threw a roll of bills onto the counter and headed for the door.

"Kaiba, wait – "

"What now?" Kaiba snapped. "You want a cake to wash down your burger?"

"Argh, you are such a jerk!"

To Jou's frustration, Kaiba stepped out into the rain. An umbrella popped up in his hand just as the door closed.

Jou rushed out into the street after him. "I'm not finished talking to you!"

It was really dark now, and still wet. Jou barely knew where he was. Where had he wandered to in his search for a job? There weren't even any people around. No wonder no place around here wanted new staff!

"That was not talking," Kaiba said. "That was a foray into idiocy which I thoroughly regret."

"I don't believe you!" Jounouchi shouted. "I think you actually ENJOYED having my company there. You LIKED having someone to talk to – to laugh at! You just won't admit it because you'd rather be a block of ice than a human being."

"Do you like me laughing at you?" hissed Kaiba. "Do you ENJOY the insults you so clearly deserve? I will not stand on the street and have a shouting match." Kaiba, again, turned on his heel to walk away.

"I don't understand you!" shouted Jounouchi.

Kaiba stopped and Jounouchi stepped up to him, in front of him.

"If you possibly could, I would be very disappointed with myself," Kaiba said in a quiet, low voice. "Now stop making a spectacle."

"Oh yeah! I'm sorry! There are clearly HUNDREDS of people in this street watching the two of us. There's a paparazzo hiding right over there behind that trash can! You've got some god damned nerve, Kaiba. I'll make a fucking spectacle if I want to."

Kaiba stepped towards Jounouchi. "You really are a fucking idiot," he said.

And then he did something else that Jounouchi could not have predicted. He dropped his umbrella and his briefcase. With both hands, Kaiba grabbed the front of Jounouchi's jacket and yanked the slightly shorter man towards him. Before Jou knew what was happening he felt Kaiba's lips meet his own. Jou felt his heart pound suddenly against his chest, harder than the rain pounded against the pavement. He felt his whole body flush with heat in outrage, embarrassment and then – desire? Kaiba's mouth hadn't left his and Jounouchi, without a single ounce of self control, began to kiss him back. He felt Kaiba's hands fall away from his jacket as Jou stepped into the kiss, reached up slightly to grab Kaiba's neck and pull his mouth down, his body closer.

It seemed like an eternity but it was only a moment before Kaiba stepped back as if stung. The briefcase with his all-important papers lay forgotten in a puddle. The rain had left dark splotches on his suit and his hair was beginning to plaster to his skin like Jounouchi's own. Kaiba looked dishevelled, messy, and suddenly Jounouchi could see what he must have looked like himself when he stumbled into the café, hair dripping water down his skin, t shirt clinging to his chest, jeans heavy and tight with water.

Oh. Oh, oh, oh. Hell.

"You – " Jounouchi tried.

"Don't speak," said Kaiba.

"But – "

Kaiba reclaimed the step he'd taken backwards. Jounouchi had always resented how the CEO was slightly taller than him, able to look down his nose at Jou in one more way. Now he stared down at Jounouchi and the angle had a whole other, intimate meaning.

"I apologise," said Kaiba. His voice was calm but, Jou noted, his hands were trembling. "That was deeply inappropriate of me."

Jou stared. "Well..." he said. "It was a surprise."

Kaiba seemed to take this as agreement. He turned to leave. Jou felt his heart leap against his ribcage again as the other man began to walk away.

This was Kaiba. Seto Kaiba. His sworn enemy since, like, forever... Right? The man hated him. And he hated Kaiba! Of course he did. He was stuck up, arrogant and a jerk – no, an asshole. Kaiba thought he could do whatever he wanted, and he walked all over people, and he'd always treated Jounouchi like just another patch of dirt to step on. The only person he cared about was his little brother – he wouldn't stop at anything to do what was best for Mokuba, so he was ruthless, wasn't he? And he was rude, and tall, and impossibly good looking, and his mouth was just too full for someone so mean, his lips too soft. He was always yelling at Jounouchi, always mocking him, always putting him down.

The only thing worse than that was when Kaiba refused to acknowledge him at all, which always made Jounouchi's throat constrict out of – out of – out of anger, and jealously and – oh, fuck.

"You like me!" Jounouchi heard himself shout.

Kaiba stopped. Just stood in the rain. Jounouchi could barely hear the response.

"It's nothing."

"What the hell? How is that NOTHING, Kaiba? I thought you hated my guts. But you don't, do you?"

"What do you want, Jounouchi?" Kaiba's voice was hoarse. He turned to stare at Jou. His expression was completely empty - Jou couldn't read his face at all.

"I want..." Jou felt his hands curl into fists. What did he want? Here they were, the rain splattering down on them both, alone in a dark street. "I want..."

"That's what I thought," Kaiba said. Disgust curled his lips.

"I want you to do that again!" Jounouchi shouted.

Kaiba froze. Jou squirmed under his unrelenting gaze. It was too much. The way Kaiba was looking at him, there was so much anger and – and something else. Something else that scared Jounouchi, but even as he thought that, he knew that being scared was the very least of his own feelings.

Kaiba strode towards him suddenly, taking three large steps, and swept Jounouchi up, yanked him in close and kissed him again, so hard Jou thought his mouth might bruise. After a moment he realised his arms had gone from where they dangled at his side, to grab Kaiba, one hand on his back, one so cautiously resting on the other man's hip. Kaiba didn't stop this time. The kisses were hard, frantic, almost uncontrolled. Jounouchi felt a hand move around his own waist, to the small of his back. Another warm hand in his wet hair. Finally, when Jou thought he might pass out from lack of air or the tingling sensation all along his arms, Kaiba pulled back. But didn't let Jou go.

"Holy hell," Jounouchi breathed. He felt himself sag a little against the other man's arms. "Where did you learn to do that?"

Kaiba shook him once, roughly. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Hey!" Jou said, and pulled himself out of Kaiba's untrustworthy hands. "Calm down, will ya?"

"CALM DOWN?" Kaiba shouted.

"Yeah, that's what I said, or don't you hear so good?"

"You are the most infuriating, maddening, idiotic, irritating – "

"Irresistible," Jou butted in.

"Irresis- oh, like I'd fall for that!" Kaiba snapped.

"Almost did." Jou grinned.

Kaiba shouted wordlessly and it sounded a lot like the "Argh!" Jounouchi had yelled earlier. "What is wrong with you? Why do you always have to ARGUE all the time? Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Me?" Jou was smiling. He was trying to feel angry, but somehow he couldn't. There was something going on that he couldn't feel any anger about. "You're the one shouting in the street." He grinned, cheekily. "Stop making a spectacle."

"I am going to kill you," Kaiba said too calmly – serial killer calm. "I think I might actually kill you."

"Okay." Jou said.

"Okay?"

"Well, so long as it's by trying to suffocate me like you did a moment ago, it sounds like a pretty good way to go."

Kaiba bent down to pick up his sodden briefcase. He ignored the umbrella. Well, it was pretty useless now, since they were both soaked through to the skin.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go."

"Go where?" Jou said, suspiciously.

Kaiba sighed, exasperated. "To my car, you moron, or do you want to stand in the street all night and catch god damn pneumonia?"

"You know, if you like someone, it's not very nice to call them names, Kaiba." Jou frowned. "Maybe I will stand here all night. What are you going to do about it?"

Kaiba clenched his teeth. "My car is ten metres in that direction. I am going to get in it now. If you would like to come with me, then you may follow. If you choose to stand on the street and catch your death, then I will choose to act in future as if this never happened."

Jounouchi's stomach lurched. He really would, too. Kaiba would just go on pretending that phenomenal, earth-shattering kissing had never occurred, like this was all some deranged dream. He'd go on acting like he cared just enough to loathe Jounouchi, or worse, like he didn't care at all. Jounouchi frowned. For someone who thought everyone else was an idiot, Kaiba was pretty stupid himself. Who the hell did that help? Not Jou. Definitely not Kaiba himself.

"Relax, would ya? Of course I'm coming."

Kaiba stalked off without another word. Jou followed him lazily before climbing in the front passenger seat.

"What, no chauffeur today?"

"I am perfectly capable of driving myself. What are you doing?"

"I'm taking off my wet jacket, if that's all right with you!"

"Fine. My seats are already ruined anyway."

"Oh, then would you like me to toss this in the back so they match the front?"

Kaiba sighed. "I don't suppose you could just shut up and sit still?"

Jou pretended to consider it for a moment. What he was actually considering was the fact that it was his complete lack of tact that Kaiba appeared to find so irresistible anyway. Sure, that made sense. Maybe not everyone just wanted their subordinates to agree with everything they said. Maybe Kaiba was such an asshole because he refused to participate in the social rituals that Jounouchi was too blunt to follow through with, too. I mean, he tried, but... He usually got by on smiles and charm and goodwill. Not proper politeness. He'd always sucked at that.

"Nope. I don't think I can. Isn't that why you like me, anyway?"

Kaiba was silent for a moment. "Because you never shut up?"

"Yep. Because I actually argue with all of your commanding bullshit, right?"

"You arguing with me is like a dog chasing the bumper of a moving car."

"So you don't disagree."

"Careful, if you use too many double negatives you'll over-tax your small brain."

"You're still not disagreeing."

"Fine! It has crossed my mind before that perhaps the reason you irritate me so much is because you never just go along with what me or anyone else says, even when the other person is clearly right."

Jou decided to leave that bait well alone. "So... where are we going?" Jou peered out the window.

"Unless you have any objections, my home."

"Are you going to have your way with me?" The question popped out of Jou's mouth before his very limited sense of tact could kick in. His throat suddenly went dry as he waited for the response.

"I... Don't know." Kaiba said, hands on the wheel, eyes on the road.

"...What if I ask nicely?" Jou couldn't help it. He just had to push. Had to.

"Jesus, Jounouchi. Doesn't this bother you?"

"Hrrm. Yes. No." He thought. "Maybe."

"That is so helpful. You're really proving your worth as a conversational partner." Ouch. Acerbic much?

"Like I said before, I'm surprised, okay? I always thought you hated me. I always thought that I hated you. But, uh... I don't think so, now."

"Then what do you think, if you are indeed thinking at all?"

"You are really gonna have to work on those people skills. I mean, I don't mind your constant holier-than-thou bitching so much, but you could cut down on the insults just a little."

Kaiba only grunted in response.

" 'Yes Katsuya, I'll try to be nice to you,'" Jou mimicked. "I'm thinking..." he paused. "I'm thinking maybe what I hated wasn't you, but the fact that you always gave me so little thought. The way you didn't seem to give a crap about whether I even existed, beyond whether I was in your way or not. An' maybe I confused my reasons for hating you with how I felt about... about you. 'Cause..." Oh lord, he was really going to make himself say it. "'Cause if I hated you, I wouldn't have got so angry about your bullshit. And I sure wouldn't be thinking about kissing you right now."

"That's... surprisingly astute."

"There you go again with the insults." At least he hadn't made Jounouchi's blush any deeper by addressing the other thing.

Kaiba grunted again. He seemed to be concentrating especially hard on his driving.

"Look, Kaiba. I may not be polite, or especially quick to catch on. But that doesn't mean I'm dumb. I'm smart enough to know when to take a chance on something I didn't expect, without letting my own fears hold me back."

Jou hrrmed to himself when Kaiba still said nothing. Yeah. That sounded about right. This was entirely too much thinking, though. "And anyway," Jou added lightly. "I'm gonna need to get out of these wet clothes one way or another."

This was like talking to a statue.

"... Does it bother you?" Jou asked, trying to get some gauge on what the hell he was supposed to do. "I mean, not the wet clothes. The... This."

"I've been thinking about it for a while, so no. It doesn't bother me." Kaiba shortly. "Not any more."

Jou felt a thrum of pleasure inside suddenly, to hear that Kaiba had been thinking of him, of this. It surprised Jou, so much that it was how he really knew he was glad to be in the car... That he really was going to be okay, leaping without looking as he always did.

They passed the rest of the ride in silence. Eventually, the car stopped outside a block of exclusive-looking apartments. Kaiba climbed out of the car and a waiting valet took his keys.

"My personal residence," Kaiba said, in response to a questioning look from the other man. "No servants."

"Oh."

They went past a doorman, through the foyer and into the elevator. It required a key to ascend to the penthouse, and a fingerprint scan, too. When the doors pinged open at the top of the shaft, Jounouchi gaped for a moment. Yeah, it was nothing less than he'd expected, but it was still... Amazing. Opulent. Black and white marble, ornate black and grey wallpaper... In short, it was like some kind of modern gothic palace.

Kaiba ignored Jou's staring and walked forward into the room. He shrugged off his coat. "What do you want? A towel? A shower? A drink?"

Jou almost smirked. Kaiba seemed to have no idea what to do with guests.

"What?" Kaiba barked. "Now you're suddenly mute?" He exhaled in annoyance and strode off.

Jou trailed behind and watched as Kaiba walked into the kitchenette, switched on a coffee machine and checked to see if it was full. Jounouchi had never seen him do anything so just plain normal before and oddly, it helped.

When Kaiba turned to ask him again, or maybe order him out, the CEO was surprised to find Jounouchi standing directly beside him. Jou reached up one hand to slowly cradle Kaiba's face towards his own, and planted a soft kiss on his lips. He was far more gentle than Kaiba had been with him, but when he pulled back he still felt raw.

Kaiba cleared his throat – Jou thought, to cover his own disorientation. "Your hand is freezing."

"...A shower?" Jou said hoarsely. "Is that okay?"

Kaiba nodded silently and pointed – Jou assumed in the direction of the bathroom. He found it after a moment and it was, as expected, as extravagant as the rest of the house: black marble floors and walls, with two massive white basins standing on black rock pillars underneath a long mirror. Two basins, huh? Guess when it came to interior design, even Kaiba didn't plan to spend his life alone. The bathtub was absolutely freakin' huge, a massive white stand-alone thing with clawed feet. The shower was equally oversized.

Jou turned the hot water on full blast, emptied out his pockets, then climbed in fully clothed. He bit his lip as the hot water stung his cold skin at first, then he began to peel off his cold, soaked clothes. He leaned against the shower wall, willing the steaming water to warm him up, to take away the chill that he could feel under his skin, in his marrow. He'd be pissed if he got pneumonia and proved Kaiba right. Nah, he'd be fine if only because he couldn't let Kaiba be right, actually.

Jou realised suddenly that he was staring at a row of small bottles. Shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, soap. Kaiba's things. Weird. They looked expensive, but it was still so... Ordinary. He might have always thought Kaiba was an asshole, but somehow he'd been an asshole of ungodly portion – not normal, not mortal, not human like the rest of them. Yet his shampoo begged to differ.

Jou sighed and squirted some of it into his hair. What the hell, why not? He felt like he was intruding anyway – or maybe he should consider himself lucky that Kaiba had let him in. Okay, it was only an apartment... But it was a start. What was Kaiba LIKE, anyway? What did he actually like? What did he really hate?

Jou snorted. He had some good idea of the latter, but the former was a total mystery. But there must be things that he liked, that he wanted, that he preferred to have around him. God, could there be things Seto Kaiba felt fondly about? What a terrifying concept.

Jou scrubbed himself clean, as much to warm himself as anything else. When he finally felt his skin heat up, he climbed out and grabbed one of the giant white towels that sat on a white side-table. He wrapped it around his waist and sighed as he realised how soft it felt.

Time to go back out, then. "Get a grip," he told his reflection in the mirror.

Jou walked out to find Kaiba sitting in his living room, sipping a cup of coffee, staring out of huge glass doors which looked down into the city. The rain was still beating down outside. Beads trickled against the doors and occasionally even pummelled them with a gust of wind. Kaiba had changed into dry clothes – a shirt, cotton pants and even shoes, did this guy ever relax? Well, at least he wasn't wearing a tie. There was a fire burning in the corner and second cup on the coffee table in front of him.

"Thanks," Jou said, and picked it up. He turned to look out the window himself, but Kaiba stopped him.

"Jesus Christ, Jounouchi. What happened to your back?"

Jou winced. Oh yeah, he'd forgotten about that. The bruise down most of the left side of his back. It must be all kinds of beautiful colours by now – red, blue, black, yellow, brown, green. "Ah... Nothing much. I wrecked my bike."

"You ride a motorcycle?"

Jou laughed. "Well, not any more. It's in worse shape than me. It's gettin' repaired... if I can afford to get it back again when it's done."

Kaiba was still staring. Well, let him. Jou didn't exactly think he had much to worry about. He was in good shape. He knew he'd look tanned and warm again, now that he'd shaken off the chill of the rain.

"It looks like you were lucky," Kaiba said eventually.

"Yeah, nothing broken. I'm pretty resilient."

"So I gather," Kaiba said dryly. He sipped his coffee.

Jou leaned on the back of a chair. "I like your place," he said. "Though it's kind of weird to think of you at home."

"Is it?"

"Hrrm... Well, I never wondered before what you eat for breakfast, for example."

"Cereal," said Kaiba. "If I eat it at all."

"See, that's what I mean. Don't go making some snide remark about how stupid I am here, but I never thought that you would have to eat."

Kaiba's lips upturned. On anyone else, it would have been a smile. On Kaiba it was a little scary, but in an all-too-attractive way. "Is that so?"

"But that's what you want, right? For people to think of you as larger than life?"

"I suppose you could say that."

Maybe not a statue. Maybe it was like talking to the sphinx. Everything came back as secrets and riddles. Jounouchi sighed.

"I like eggs," he said. "For breakfast."

"Are you putting in an order?"

Jou laughed. "I hadn't really thought that far ahead. I was just... sharing."

"I see."

Argh! "Do you have something I could wear?" Jou tried another tactic. "My clothes are a little useless right now."

Kaiba looked him up and down again. "I can find you something. Clothes, or a robe." He stood, and Jounouchi stared for a moment at how tall he was, how smooth the movement looked. "Though I must say, I prefer you how you are." Kaiba walked out of the room.

Jou grinned. Now they were getting somewhere. He sauntered after Kaiba into what turned out to be the bedroom. It was much like the rest of the place. The bed was huge. Kaiba was standing in the doorway of a closet that could have almost passed for Jou's apartment.

Jou was surprised to see some photographs on a dresser on the far side of the room, but before he could be nosey enough to check them out, Kaiba held out a pair of pants. "Here." He looked into his wardrobe for a moment longer and pulled out a shirt. "And this."

"Is this okay?" Jou frowned. "I mean, these are..."

"They ought to fit you. We're almost the same size." Kaiba looked him up and down again. "You're a little more muscled."

"I meant," Jou said, flushing under the scrutiny at such a close range, not to mention the tone of Kaiba's voice, "They look kinda expensive."

Kaiba's steely expression didn't change. "They're just clothes. I don't care if you use them to clean the windows when you're done wearing them."

"Gee, thanks."

Jou pulled the shirt on. It was a sea green colour, which he'd never seen Kaiba wear but which he figured would look pretty nice against the other man's pale complexion. Then again, it looked pretty good against his own honey-brown skin, too.

Kaiba tugged at the end of the shirt, suddenly. "Don't you ever pay attention?"

Jou looked down to see that he'd skipped a button. "Guess my fingers are still cold," he mumbled.

Kaiba unbuttoned the crooked ones himself, and began to do them up again, correctly, neck to waist. "You don't feel cold any more," he murmured as his fingers brushed Jounouchi's stomach just about the edge of his towel.

Jou grabbed Kaiba's hand as it finished the last button. It was indeed as warm as his own. "Guess not."

Kaiba shoved the pants at Jounouchi and walked back out of the room.

Jou tugged them on. No underwear. Oh well.

"Help me out here," he said as he walked back into the living room. "I don't know what I'm doing, or what I'm doing right or wrong."

"You're fine," Kaiba said shortly.

"Then why are you so difficult?"

Kaiba stared at him. "I... am trying not to be rude to you, as I believe you requested."

Jou stared back, then cracked a smile. He sat down in an armchair. Began to laugh. "Let me get this straight... It's such a superhuman effort for you NOT to be rude to me that you find it difficult to say anything else at all?"

Kaiba didn't nod or shake his head. He simply continued to stare.

Jounouchi just laughed harder, sliding down in his seat. "Oh man. This is just doomed, isn't it?"

He closed his eyes and put his head back, still chuckling.

"It's nice," Kaiba said.

Jou opened one eye, sat up. "Huh?"

"It's nice... To see you smile."

Jou didn't know what to say. He'd never have thought Kaiba could say something like that, let alone to sound so calm about it. He would have expected it to be somehow grudging, angry, bitter, mocking – all the things Kaiba seemed to embody –but it wasn't. It was just Kaiba, stating a fact.

"I like it almost as much as seeing you apoplectic with anger."

Jou started to grin again. "Is that so?"

"Yes," said Kaiba. "Look, Jounouchi. I can't pretend to like things I don't. No one's ever made me learn how, and I have absolutely no inclination to start wasting my time with it now." He paused, put his coffee cup down and stood up. "But, I can be honest about what I do and don't want. I play too many games already – KaibaCorp, politics, the media, business strategy. I don't play them at home. I refuse to."

Jou sat quietly, amazed that he'd ever hear Kaiba say so much at one time.

"If that's something you can deal with, then say so now," he continued. "You said I like you. I do. Completely despite myself, might I add."

"Gee, thanks." He thought it wasn't the first time he'd said it that evening.

"But if you don't feel return the feeling – if you don't know what you're doing – then I want to know right now. That's the way it is. I won't tolerate anything less than honesty."

"Okay," said Jou.

"Okay? That's all you have to say."

Jou stood up then, too. "Okay, Kaiba." He spread his hands. "I thought it was pretty clear by now. But yeah, I'm pretty sure I like you too. I can't say I know exactly what I'm doing, because I don't. This has kinda hit me out of nowhere, though I get the feeling I should have seen it coming before. You say you don't play games – good. Then I know you're not just fucking with me now. Because you are hard enough to read without me having to second-guess every single thing you say. I don't lie, and I don't fuck around, and usually I can't keep my opinion to myself if I try, so I don't really see how we're so different, there. I just usually have good intentions... Which I'm not sure that you do."

"I'm not giving you a job," Kaiba said.

Jounouchi took offence instantly. "For fuck's sake, Kaiba!" Jounouchi exploded. "If you can even think so little of me then I am out of here right now."

Jou tried to storm past the other man, but Kaiba grabbed his arm and spun him back.

"Let go," Jou spat through clenched teeth. "I'm not for sale, which I thought you might have picked up on already tonight."

"I had," Kaiba said, calm. "I was just checking."

"You asshole! All your 'not playing games' – what a load of bullshit!" Jou shouted.

"It's not a game. It was a statement of fact. You're right, however. You really are... honest." The way Kaiba said it, he made it sound like a bad thing, the jerk.

"I just told you that!"

"Everyone says it, but few people actually are."

"Don't pull that crap again with me, Kaiba," Jou said in a low voice. He stared into the other man's eyes, still pissed off, but unwilling to move away.

"All right," said Kaiba. "I won't deliberately make you angry again. At least..." Kaiba smiled, which surprised Jou. "Not without good intentions."

Jou rolled his eyes, still glaring. "Oh, well that's reassur-"

He was interrupted by Kaiba locking his mouth to Jounouchi's. Jou should have been annoyed, but instead his own irritation just added fuel to the kiss.

"You're very attractive when you're angry," Kaiba somehow managed to say around Jounouchi's mouth.

Jou couldn't tell which of them was shoving or pushing the other to the couch. It seemed to be a joint effort and they tumbled down onto the plush grey seating, their legs tangled, neither quite on top of the other. Jou made a strangled sound as Kaiba found his hips with his hands and somehow pulled him even closer, pressing their bodies tight together along their length. He wasn't sure if it was his own heart that he felt beat so wildly, or Kaiba's – or both.

Jou tugged at Kaiba's shirt, pulled it loose and slipped a hand inside to press his fingers against the smooth skin of Kaiba's back. In response Kaiba just about threw him down, slamming his back against the arm of the couch – which hurt like holy hell.

"Ah!" Jou exclaimed in pain.

Kaiba stopped.

"Are you all right?"

"Back," Jou gasped, feeling winded from both the pain that had seared across his bruise and the general lack of air that came with the distraction of other sensations.

Kaiba held very still, but didn't move off Jou.

"Of course." Kaiba grimaced. "Apologies."

Jou grinned as the hurt receded. "Just don't do that again for a few weeks, unless you intend to spend hours kissing it better."

Kaiba's blue eyes stared into his own and Jounouchi, for the second time that day, felt as though he wouldn't know what was happening to the world around him so long as he kept looking back. He understood the feeling better, now. Though he wasn't willing to admit Kaiba wasn't a gorgon.

Seto kissed him again, tentatively. A quick kiss, but followed by a deeper one. He shifted slightly and Jounouchi took that as his cue to slide to a slightly more comfortable position. This seemed to mean he wound up with his back flat against the seat of the couch, Kaiba now completely on top. It hadn't been his intention.

"Ah..." he said. "If you sit up slightly, I can move..."

Kaiba cocked his head ever so slightly, one eyebrow raised. "I could, but is there something wrong with this?"

Um... Was there? Jou tried to think but found it was rather difficult with Kaiba kissing him behind the ear. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be so at Kaiba's mercy – everyone knew there was precious little of that to go around. On the other hand, he didn't think they'd be going much further than this tonight. Kaiba was as uptight as Jou was impulsive, and while Jou thought his stirl-whirling brain would settle down eventually and be okay with this, he didn't trust Kaiba not to flip out for some crazy billionare asshole reason. So he would push Kaiba's buttons as far as he possibly could, but he was not letting things get out of control.

Kaiba shifted his weight again, and this time the feeling of their bodies pressed together made Jounouchi fight off a shudder.

"You didn't answer me."

"Nope," Jou said. It came out strangled. "Nothing wrong with this."

He used his free hand to pull Kaiba's mouth back down to his own.

Eventually they tired of kissing, though it took about an hour of testing each other's boundaries – neither of them could seem to help themselves, and once or twice they came closer to fighting than making out – and the grumbling of Jounouchi's stomach.

Kaiba sat up. "I can't take any more of that sound."

"Huh?"

"Your stomach." At least he didn't snap the words. "It's doing it again."

On cue, Jounouchi's belly rumbled.

Jou sighed. "I guess it is getting late."

Kaiba just rolled his eyes. "You ate a few hours ago."

"Yeah, those of us who aren't robots have this annoying habit of doing that!" Jounouchi snapped. "You should consider yourself lucky I haven't been thinking about pizza for the last twenty minutes."

"I'd be more than a little insulted if you were thinking of dinner while we were..." Kaiba trailed off.

"Fooling around?" Jou suggested.

Kaiba said, "Who's fooling?"

"So... Do you want me go?"

"Go?" Kaiba looked at Jounouchi, and though Jou couldn't quite tell how he knew, he could tell that Kaiba was surprised. "Go where?"

"Gee, I don't know... To get some food? Home? Both?"

"Do you have any food at home?" Kaiba replied, the old scorn creeping back in.

"Look, I might be a little skint right now, but I'm not starving. I've got... Ah... Rice?" Jou admitted, reluctantly.

"That's really quite pathetic, Jounouchi." Kaiba sounded annoyed. "I wish you wouldn't bother making such stupid suggestions."

"Oh, my apologies, your Highness. Sorry that I didn't just assume I could sponge off you in your penthouse!"

"It's nice that you have pride, but don't take it too far." Kaiba leaned over, and flicked Jou's ear.

"Um, ow?"

"If you're really that desperate, I'll give you a reference."

"...You what?"

"All right," said Kaiba. "You can have some food, too."

"This ain't the time to improve your undeveloped sense of humour, Kaiba. What do you mean?"

"I told you before that I wouldn't give you a job. However, if your problem is a lack of references, I can supply one."

Jou wasn't stupid. Yeah, the fact that he'd been fired from his latest job – and lost the phone numbers for his boss before THAT – wasn't helping him. But Kaiba knew as well as Jounouchi did that with a reference from Seto Kaiba, he could get a job anywhere – probably a better job than he was even qualified for. Hell, it would be more of a threat than a recommendation.

"Why would you do that?" Jou asked, finally, quietly.

"Do you show up to work on time?" Kaiba asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you need a job?"

"Yes."

"Don't you work hard?"

"Yes!"

"...Well then, why wouldn't I recommend you?"

"We've never worked together," Jou said, stubbornly.

"Don't be deliberately obtuse." Kaiba's fingers tapped impatiently on the arm of the couch. It distracted Jounouchi for a moment – Kaiba's fingers had been proving pretty deft. Jou snapped out of it when Kaiba spoke again. "You've been in enough tournaments with me for a character reference. Giving you a job at my own company would be far more trouble than it was worth to either of us." Kaiba looked at him sideways, and damn if the look wasn't a bit sly. "Not to mention I doubt there's much you're qualified for other than operating side-shows at KaibaLand."

Jou was about to shoot a comeback but Kaiba just held up his hand, and to Jou's annoyance, his mouth closed on its own. Since when could Kaiba shut up him with some bullshit imperious gesture like that? Maybe making out with them was doing weird things to both of them.

"However," Kaiba said, "I am not above helping people who help themselves. Just... Don't tell anyone that or I'll be hearing every sob story this side of India."

Jounouchi found himself still oddly silent.

"Anyway, I can't have you starve, can I? And I don't want you sponging off me. Now go see what's in the fridge."

Jounouchi stomped into the kitchen and started pulling vegetables out of Kaiba's fridge. Like everything else in the apartment, it looked state of the art and was perfectly organised.

Okay, sulking was probably petty, but something about this just didn't feel right. He didn't think he needed Kaiba's help. He didn't want it. Things were complicated enough as it was!

...Huh. Was that just old prejudice rearing its ugly, pointless head? Well, shoot. If Yuug had offered, Jou wouldn't be bothered. He'd take it for what it was: help from a friend. Yuugi's profile wasn't as high as Kaiba's, but maybe Jou should ask him.

Or, maybe he should just thank Kaiba and use what he'd already been offered, instead of rejecting the first gesture of actual friendship the other man had ever made to Jou –or to anyone Jou even knew.

"Do you have enough there?"

Kaiba leaned in the doorway to the kitchen, arms folded. Jou looked down and realised he had a mountain of vegetables in front of him. Right.

"Is it okay if I make a stir fry?"

"Go ahead," Kaiba said.

"Ah... I probably don't need all these," Jou said, and tossed a few back into the fridge. "Um..."

"Yes?"

"Thanks, Kaiba."

"For?"

Jou exhaled. " Thank you: yes, a reference would be very helpful."

"...No problem."

"What do you want in this? You have..." Jou looked into the open refrigerator again. "Chicken, beef and shrimp."

"Chicken is fine."

"Okay!" Jou clapped his hands. "Ah... Where are the knives and stuff?"

Somehow, the two of them put together a meal – without stabbing each other in the process. Somehow, they ate it together, despite Kaiba's backhanded compliments about its taste. Somehow, they found themselves seated on the couch, feet on the coffee table, staring at the fire until the small hours of the morning. Sometimes kissing again, sometimes arguing. Jounouchi didn't realise when he fell asleep.

He woke the next morning – turned, as daylight hit him full in the face from the large glass doors to the balcony. It was a startlingly sunny day after the rain from last night. Jou lay for a moment to register his bearings – Kaiba's couch, with a large blanket on him. Okay. When he sat up, he saw a neatly-printed note on the coffee table.

I've gone to work.
Let yourself out when you feel like it.
I've programmed my number into your cellphone.
- S.K.

And then, scrawled at the bottom as if an afterthought:

Or just stay here and I'll see you later.

Jou felt his skin flush. He lay back down and pulled the blanket over his head. Oh, come on. It wasn't exactly a love letter, was it? No, but it was nice. It had been a while since someone had thought to tuck him in. He was glad Kaiba hadn't just taken off, which somehow wouldn't have surprised him. It was even nicer to know that Kaiba wanted to see him again.

But he wasn't going to just laze about here all day. He had a job to find.

Before he got up from the couch, Jou reached down and picked his phone up off the floor. Frankly, he was surprised it still worked after yesterday's dousing, piece of crap that it was. Jou scrolled through to the Ks... And found no 'Kaiba'. After a long moment of confusion, he hit the search and entered 'S'. And there it was. In his phone.

Seto.

He wasn't sure how long he stared at it. Then he typed short message.

Thanks for the blanket... Seto.

He couldn't imagine whether the other man would be pleased, if he'd smile, or smirk, or if he'd be annoyed to be contacted so soon and have his usual scowl on. Jou didn't really care what the reaction was – he wanted to send it, so he did. Kaiba's response was Kaiba's problem, though it'd be nicer if he'd be pleased, obviously. And Jou didn't expect a response fired back at him any time soon – somehow he didn't think that was like Kaiba.

He knew he'd see him and find out later.

That was all the response Jou needed.

He smiled and got up to go look for work, armed with the confidence of a solid reference and a general optimism he hadn't felt in weeks. Jounouchi was pretty sure that things in his life were only going to get better from here.