Nobody really knew why it didn't work out. Nobody knew what lead Jounouchi into breaking up with Ryou.

Anzu was particularly upset- she thought these two were perfect for each other. In fact, she had given Jounouchi a lecture on how sorry he should be for hurting Ryou.

The cute albino was actually glad it turned out this way- firstly because Jounouchi was honest with him, secondly because they became really close friends after that and well... maybe because he had developed a crush on someone else.

But that's a story for another time...

There were some people that were shocked and some others that didn't really care. And some that knew exactly why Jounouchi chose to break up with "Fluffy", as Mariku loved calling him.

Yami and Bakura, who had seen that coming.

Yugi, who was there...

And Mokuba... who had initiated this.

It had been nearly two weeks since that rainy night he spent at the Kaiba mansion with Mokuba and Yugi. The boy was bored, so he invited them for a sleep-over. His brother was (surprise, surprise!) working late again and Mokuba didn't really have something to do. So now, he was playing duel monsters with Yugi. And losing.

It was 3 am. And that was when Seto Kaiba chose to walk in. He completely ignored Jounouchi and sat next to his brother.
"You came to see me turn this duel around, didn't you?" Mokuba said to his brother.
"No, I came to see Yugi kicking my little brother's ass." the CEO answered and messed his brother's hair.
"No, he won't!" Mokuba really wanted to win.

About ten minutes later, though, Yugi won the duel with his Dark Magician Girl and Mokuba was cursing at him. Jounouchi was laughing and Kaiba smirked and hugged his brother by the shoulders.

Mokuba then remembered something and asked Yugi to follow him out of the room.
"We won't be long, don't kill each other!" Yugi said, looking at the two other boys in the room.
"...or do anything else equally interesting..." Mokuba said with a cunning look on his face.

Seto gave an angry look to his younger brother. Jounouchi simply looked confused. Do something equally interesting...what?
After the boys left the room Seto got up. It was time to go back to his computer. He was tired- he had fallen asleep while working and the loud thunder had woken him up. But then again, he couldn't stay here...

As he turned to walk out of the room, though, the blonde protested.
"Can't you stand being in the same room with me for like... ten minutes?!"
"No, I can't." he answered coldly.

In the past, Seto would simply ignore him. But for some reason, he couldn't do that anymore. He didn't want to stay in the same room with the boy because he feared what would happen... what would he do. What would they do.
Nonsense. He hated that dog. End of story.

The rain was getting stronger by the minute. A flash of lightning made Jounouchi jump- Seto didn't fail to notice the boy looked terrified. Which was normal, considering he had been struck by lightning in the past.
Weird thing was... Seto didn't want to leave the room anymore. For a reason he couldn't fully comprehend, he didn't want to leave the boy alone. He sat on his brother's bed, without saying anything more.
Jounouchi was standing right in front of the window, looking at the rain. He simply hated thunderstorms. Kaiba was around though, so he would simply pretend he didn't care.

He turned and walked away from the window, nearly falling on the small table on which Mokuba and Yugi were playing a while ago. When he looked at Kaiba, he noticed the smirk on the brunette's face. Another loud bolt of thunder rattled the windows-luckily, Jounouchi managed to stop himself from shrieking. Because he would look weak and probably sound girly.

"What are you trying to prove?" Seto smirked at the blonde.
"What do you mean?" he growled, annoyed.
"It's quite obvious that you are terrified.".

Stupid Kaiba, stupid smirk. Making him look even more handsome. And more of a jerk.
"Don't be stupid, Kaiba! Why would I be afraid of a little rain?!" he said. The "little rain" though apparently got offended. This time Jounouchi didn't manage to maintain his cool attitude as he nearly fell down when another loud thunderbolt hit Domino City.

Kaiba lied on his brother's bed. "As amusing as you are, I really am tired of watching you trying not to shriek. The rain is making me drowsy." he said.
"Making you... what?!" Jounouchi was surprised.
"I usually like loud thunderstorms, but when I'm tired they simply help me sleep." he answered.

Jounouchi was shocked by how impassible the CEO was, but he also noticed that sleepy Kaiba didn't sound the same way the usual Kaiba did. His voice had gotten smoother within seconds.
"Thunderstorm- from the collection of the new hit 'Kaiba Lullabies'. The world could be burning and Kaiba would enjoy the rain." Jounouchi said lightly.

Why couldn't the stupid storm stop? It was true, he was scared. Maybe if he could go a little closer to Seto without him noticing...
That was silly... how could he feel safe around someone like Kaiba?

He looked at the boy. He really looked exhausted. He stretched himself, then turned his head and looked at Jounouchi. His blue eyes seemed less cold now.
"Is this because you were struck by lightning?" he asked Jounouchi.
"What? I don't know what you're-"

He knew, of course he knew. And he would probably be staring out the window right now praying for the storm to stop, if he wasn't busy checking out a pair of pretty longs legs.
He sighed. "No. I always hated them, since I was a kid. I don't know why."

He expected a smirk, but he didn't get one.
"No snarky comments? My, you must be really tired..." he said.

Mokuba had a big bed. Big enough for two people to fit. Sure Kaiba was feeling kind of lonely on that bed... maybe Jounouchi should sit next to him. Not because he was afraid of the storm or anything.. or because he wanted to sit closer to Seto. None of that.

He quietly walked up to the bed and sat on it, right beside the brunette.

A pair of blue eyes looked at him.
"You know..." Jounouchi said, "we actually spent a few minutes without cursing at each other."
"I noticed. We can always start now, mutt." he answered. He closed his eyes.

Jounouchi tried to stop himself from thinking how handsome he looked like this.
Oh, wait. Too late.

"You really can't stand me that much?" he asked the brunette.
"And more..." he whispered. At least he wasn't his typical cold Kaiba-self. That was good...
"There must be something... Anything... that you like about me!" he said.

He didn't really know what he was trying to achieve... or if he was trying to achieve something specific.

Seto sighed. "Seriously, Katsuya?"
"Seriously, Kaiba. And I do have a name. Most days." he said, looking at the exhausted boy that was lying next to him.
"Will you leave me alone if I answer that?" he asked. His voice wasn't getting back to its usual cold tone yet.
"I will."

"Okay... I guess... you are not a completely useless duelist." he said quietly.
Jounouchi smiled. "You can do better than that." he whispered, putting his head on the headrest of the bed.

"No, I can't.". He had more to say but he wouldn't. Why wasn't he kicking him out of the bed yet?

Jounouchi's knee was touching his. Either the blonde didn't notice, or he didn't care. And for some reason even he didn't understood.. he didn't mind.

"My turn then!" Jounouchi said cheerfully.

A pair of blue, surprised eyes looked at him. "Can we stop acting childishly now?"
"You never act childishly and it's one of the reasons you're always so tense. So shut up and be immature for once!" he said, smiling at him.
Seto sighed.

"Okay...", Jounouchi went on, "I won't tell you that you are a great duelist, you already know that."
Seto smirked again. Of course he knew that.
"So.. I guess I really like the fact that you're such a big jerk but at the same time... you can be really caring towards the ones you love." he said, now staring at his fingers.

That coming from a man that was always there to take the bullet for his friends. Even for someone like Anzu. If Seto had a friend like her... wait, no, he wouldn't. He wouldn't do something that cruel to himself.

Brown eyes were giving him an anticipating look.
"Oh, for fuck's sake..." Seto murmured.
He turned his head and looked at the blonde boy. He took a deep breath.
"I guess...", he sat up on the bed and was now looking at his knee-which was still touching Jounouchi's-, "some people could say... from certain angles... You are handsome."

Jounouchi was smiling. A smile that confirmed what Seto had just said about him.
Was it possible for Seto to blush? If it was, he should have been red by now.
"Either say the same or don't answer at all." he said awkwardly.

"Are you kidding, Kaiba? You're by far the most handsome guy I have ever met..."
Did he just say that?
Why did he just say that?

Awkward silence followed. Only this time, the previously offended by Jounouchi's words thunderstorm worked in his favor.

Other than the raindrops on the window's glass, they hadn't been hearing anything else for some time. Until a really loud bolt of thunder made Jounouchi scream. Kaiba jumped up and grabbed the boy by the shoulders.

He was shaking.

"Jounouchi, it's okay... It's just a rainstorm...". he said softly and put his hand on the boy's chest. His heart was thumping like crazy.
"I..." he tried to say. He..what? What was he really going to say?

Those blue beautiful eyes didn't seem cold anymore. Quite on the contrary, they made Jounouchi feel safe...

"Calm down.. You're shaking..." he said, softly rubbing the boy's chest.
He had a feeling he would regret this, but right now all he really cared about was calming the boy down. And he didn't know why.

Jounouchi got Seto's hand in his. He looked straight into the blue eyes. He was still slightly shaking. Seto wrapped his arm around the boy's waist.

One would think that at some point at least one of them-especially Seto- would stop to think what the hell they were doing. But not this time...

He was stroking his waist, still trying to calm the blonde down. Or maybe it was just because he liked touching Jounouchi.

Maybe that was why he didn't stop the boy when he simply leaned forward and kissed him.

There was nothing awkward about that kiss- for both of them, it felt like something that should have happened a long time ago. It was complicated, but at this very moment, they both knew how much they had been longing for that.
Seto tightened his embrace as he was kissing the boy he liked calling a dog so much. Jounouchi stroked Seto's face and then put his fingers in brown hair.
They had forgotten about the rainstorm and the fact that they were in Mokuba's bedroom, while Yugi and him were still in the house. They were too busy kissing passionately.

That was when they heard Yugi's voice comming from the corridor- and then Mokuba urgently telling him to keep quiet. Seto pulled back, looked at the door and then at the boy he was kissing just a few seconds ago. They both seemed startled and confused now.

And then Seto became the cold man that couldn't stand Jounouchi again.

Before the blonde got a chance to say anything, Seto was already off the bed.
"Forget this ever happened." he said abruptly and walked towards the window.

Jounouchi wasn't planning to let him get away. He got off the bed as well, but as he was ready to go and grab Seto in his arms, there was a knock on the door.
"It's your room Mokuba, I don't understand why you're knocking." Seto said, trying to sound as normal as possible.

Mokuba, followed by Yugi, got in the room.

"What could possibly take you so long?" Seto asked, still refusing to look away from the window.
"Well-"

Mokuba never really had the time to explain. Seto finally moved, walking past Jounouchi and the other two boys.
"It's okay. Never mind. I'm going back to work. Have fun."

He opened the door, but Jounouchi called out his name before he left the room.
"Seto!"
"I think I made myself clear, mutt." And with that, he closed the door behind him and left.

Yugi and Mokuba looked at each other, as Jounouchi was staring at the door, looking like a puppy whose bone someone just stole.

"Jou...?" innocent purple eyes were looking at him.
He slightly shοοk his head and looked at Yugi and then Mokuba. He forced himself to smile.

"Hey, Mokuba... Wanna go against me, now?" he asked.
"I'm so gonna make you regret that decision..." the dark-haired boy met his challenge.
"Bring it on, Mokie-chan."

He looked at the door one last time, before taking his deck out and shuffling it.
Denial was good. But now it was too late for that.