I never forgot.

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted to Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.
It was really, very, stupid. Every time the phone rang his heart skipped just a tiny little bit. And each time he immediately reprimanded himself for allowing his subconscious that much control. Every time he walked into the office and saw a closed door, he couldn't be satisfied until it was opened just to confirm that there was still no one sitting in his chair. He looked for him everywhere, but didn't realize he was even doing this until about a week after it had started. And it had started almost immediately.

Kaiba Seto, CEO of Kaiba Corp, boss and wage payer of Jonouchi Katsuya, was in America. Not Japan. These were facts. Now if only Katsuya himself could convince his entire being, not just most of it, not to keep hoping that the arrogant, annoying, and thoroughly unattractive man was just a little closer to home. It was entirely unfitting for his insides to keep flip flopping all around the place every time someone appropriately tall with brown hair was seen walking down the street. Frankly, he was getting sick of it. He would have given himself a severe talking-to if it hadn't been a shave too close to insanity.

What was worse though, was that he wasn't too much closer to a decision yet. Sure, Kaiba was attractive and rich and had put his heart on the line just to confess his feelings… but admitting he felt the same back was like taking a running jump off a really high cliff with signs surrounding it reading: "Danger: Really High Cliff." In other words, he wasn't sure it was the smartest thing to do. Society was not 100% on his side. His friends were not 100% on his side… as much as he was aware. So far he had only confessed the truth to one of them, and he was fairly sure she had figured it out long before he had told her anyway. (Women were scary like that).

Perhaps, the annoying analyst within him argued, what is more scary is the thought that you actually care about another human being that much. Maybe it's not about what gender he is, but who he is. Perhaps you feel embarrassed telling your friends that you are interested in someone like Kaiba? You have hated him for so long… Or maybe you simply fear commitment?

Or maybe you should shut the hell up, Katsuya told himself.

But which part of that was true? All of it? None of it?

A small amount of evidence pointed to the fact that he actually did want to accept Seto's offer. …Kaiba's offer. But it was still well within his rights to say no and walk away. At this point Katsuya didn't think by saying no he would be fired, or honestly that there would be too much uncomfortableness between them at the office. Kaiba would simply go back to being distant again, and their camaraderie would diminish.

I don't want him to be distant, he realized with a start. He'd grown used to, fond of, Kaiba's warmly cynical approach to life, to see him quirk his lip in amusement when they argued. It certainly was much more pleasant than the hateful glares he used to receive in such situations all those years ago.

He would miss that if it went away.

He missed it now.

A panicked look stole over Katsuya's face. He missed Kaiba, he actually did. That in itself was hard to admit. But it kept coming back to a relationship… an actual relationship?

With him!?

"Mokuba this call is quickly becoming very expensive,"

"You can afford it," His younger brother said dismissively, "I haven't finished telling you about how I beat the DDR high score yet!"

"I'm very tired…" Seto tried again.

"I know what the time is over there Nii-sama, you can't trick me."

He sighed. Was it too late to re-consider his eternal devotion to his brother? At times like this it could really be a pain…

Mokuba continued on with his story as if he hadn't seen Seto sigh at all. He attempted to let his mind wander as the darker-haired boy ranted, but it was a bit hard as they were voice conferencing. It wasn't that he didn't want to speak to him, it was just that every time he called home to Japan his thoughts inevitably strayed to Jonouchi. He wondered what he was up to, whether he was secretly going through his files at work, or whether he had convinced payroll that Kaiba Seto himself had authorized a pay increase for all employees. But most of all, he wondered whether Jou had thought about what he had said just before he left.

He'd promised himself he wouldn't call him, wouldn't ask until he got back. He'd sent a few instructional emails regarding work issues, but was fairly sure the replies he was getting were only auto-generated response emails. After all, he was the one who had programmed them to send in the first place. No, if there was a problem at work Jou would either ask someone in the country for help, or if it was a desperate situation he would get in touch with him.

So really, the fact that there was no contact one might consider a good thing. It meant nothing was going wrong. Seto couldn't help but secretly wish that a small, tiny, fire would break out. Or that just a minor systems failure on all main consoles would occur. Just a small disaster really… it didn't need to be anything major.

He stopped. He was doing it again; caring too much. Damn that stupid blond puppy. Oh well… three more weeks and he would have his answer. That was, if Jou had actually come up with one. Four weeks was enough time, right?

He briefly wondered if he was pushing this too much. After all, it wasn't like he was asking a girl, he was asking a boy. Boy's handled these things differently. What he was asking wasn't normal.

One part of him nodded seriously in agreement, but another part blatantly yelled: Fuck normal, four weeks is more than enough time to work out an answer.

Besides, what was normal anymore? Come up with the weirdest relationship, the silliest stunt, the most outrageous attractions… and you could bet someone else had already come up with a theory, tested it, and posted the results on the internet. So being gay was certainly not a phenomenon localised between the two of them.

Plus, the world was a rapidly changing and constantly moving environment. At the current rate of progress, Seto was willing to bet that it wouldn't be long before gay people would be able to throw away their closets, and TV commercials would start representing happy families that weren't nuclear.

It was only a matter of time.

"Nii-sama?"

"Sorry Mokuba, I was distracted."

"That's okay," Remarkably, he actually looked slightly guilty, "I've been rambling a bit too long."

"Think nothing of it,"

He smiled, "Thanks big brother. I should let you go now though. Enjoy America! Try not to miss me too much, call me soon!" He waved, and then the screen went black as the connection was interrupted.

Seto sighed and leant back. Three more weeks. He would be happy just knowing Jou had thought about it at all, even if the answer was no.

He hadn't told Anzu about the due date for his answer, he didn't think it was really all that important. They had discussed his situation, and she had given him her opinion, and he highly suspected that if he went back to ask her more about it now, she would just give him the same one. Part of accepting Kaiba's offer meant, he assumed, furthering their relationship on a more long-term basis. Which meant, furthermore, that if they were going to be serious about such a relationship, eventually other people, namely people such as his friends, were going to have to find out about it.

"You missed!"

The problem was, none of his friends besides her actually did know about it at this stage. He'd been keeping the whole problem a secret from them because on one level he had hoped that if it happened that nothing became of it, he would never have to explain why or how to his male friends and then make sure they didn't pay him out about it for the rest of his known life. By not telling them he avoided that possibility completely, and in the end the only person besides himself he would need to explain it to would be Anzu.

"You missed again!!"

He couldn't help but feel, however, that now that things were a tad more serious he really would appreciate the input from one of his other, male, friends. Nothing against females, of course. They had their abilities. One of which, empathy, was recently demonstrated to him by Anzu. However men just had that way of stating something to you as fact. They didn't beat around the bush by getting run away explaining the complexities of feelings, or the fact that ultimately we have to be happy with who and what we are, regardless of any other persons opinion. No, a man would happily give you theirs, hand you a beer, and quickly change the topic back to football. Normally, a lot more could be read in regards to a mans opinion on a matter from a hasty, honest, smile, a pat on the back and an; "it's okay mate."

"KATSUYA!!!"

"What?"

"You suck at this game, I don't want to play doubles with you anymore. Change with Yugi." Otogi had a way of always sounding demanding.

With a lot less reluctance than the darker haired man had imagined, Katsuya got up and handed the drum sticks over to Yugi who smiled apologetically and took his seat. In less than a few moments the game started up again and a pop tune blared loudly from the large and numerous speakers around them. As Otogi had predicted, Yugi was a lot better at playing the ersatz drum kit than a distracted Katsuya had been. Anzu shot him a sympathetic smile, the only one of the group who had the greatest idea of what was on his mind, and he faintly returned the gesture.

His thought processes now were suggesting that he find himself a man's opinion on the matter. They informed him it might be infinitely beneficial to do so, and that it even might help him to come to his own decision. That all seemed fair and good, now it was just a question of who? He considered his options:

Yugi – one of his best friends, a possible target for confession and subsequent scrutinizing of their opinion on the matter. Somehow though, Katsuya had always thought of Yugi as a person who needed protecting, not the other way around. Despite the fact that Yugi had saved his life numerous times before, some of the credit went to Yami (who he wouldn't have considered going to for advice on this matter anyway and probably only ranked one higher than Bakura on the list of candidates), and on some levels he still considered Yugi to be a young and naieve individual. Katsuya would have felt he was rather corrupting his mind, bringing up his current worries.

Ryou – apart from the ways in which he was very similar to Yugi, he'd never been that close to him. It would feel odd going to Ryou for advice on something so personal, even though he was still a good friend.

Otogi – was more likely to laugh at him than be helpful.

Which really only left Honda and handful of other people he instantly dismissed as well.

Honda was a good, loyal friend who he had known for over ten years. He wasn't entirely sure what his views on homosexual people were, but he thought maybe there was a good chance that even if he didn't openly walk in gay pride parades, he would be happy to accept his friend as someone who was temporarily lenient towards men.

Plus, he wisely reminded himself, if something with Kaiba did begin to develop, he would eventually have to tell them all. He wondered whether Yugi would mind that he hadn't gone to him first? But Honda really did seem the best choice, just at this point in time anyway.

Deep down, he knew all he was really doing was trying to take his own attention away from a decision he ultimately had to make himself, by searching for other peoples. But he still had over two weeks left, so perhaps he could afford to delay crunch time for just a while longer.

Eventually Otogi lost interest in the game and they moved around the arcade to find another one. As they did Katsuya managed to catch Honda's arm long enough to ask whether he wanted to hang out at his place later on. Honda agreed under the condition that Katsuya provide the drinks.

Americans, Seto reflected, were really only good for one thing: they had money. Apart from this, they had very few other admirable qualities. They were loud, laughed too much, took your hand and shook it like they were keenly interested in detaching it from your arm, and most of them seemed to be unaware of the fact that their trousers were of an above-average size.

This was simply one more reason why he couldn't wait to get back to Japan. Of course there were still people of a similar description over there, but they were so less numerous. Most people, for example, had a keener sense of personal hygiene.

He had just finished another business meeting, and was on his way to the next, currently sitting in the back seat of a black limousine driving on the wrong side of the road. It was something he hadn't quite gotten used to yet, looking out to his left and actually seeing cars driving in the opposite direction, instead of the side walk like back home. Seto's trip here was so short it had been jam-packed with practically nothing but business, and these little rest breaks alone in the car, even a fifteen to twenty minute drive, he cherished with all the reverence of a child hoarding a particularly large chocolate Easter bunny.

It was good to have even a few minutes of peace and quiet. Normally he might spend the trip reading over some notes or his speech for the next meeting, but right now he couldn't bear the thought. He had been hit with a tidal wave of homesickness within the past few minutes, just thinking about something as simple as driving.

Something so silly would no doubt pass momentarily. Until it did, however, the compulsion to locate and check his personal phone was too great to ignore. He fished it out of his notebook bag and pressed a button on the side to illuminate the screen. He had missed no calls and received no messages. Not entirely unsurprising. If he were to check his work phone it would similarly be unsurprising for there to be twenty missed calls and eleven text messages.

The dragon attached was a constant reminder of Jou, and the lack of missed messages was a constant reminder of their lack of contact.

Suddenly frustrated, and experiencing a need to eliminate this reminder, he turned the phone off, and then threw it back into his bag.

There were still just under three weeks left until he returned home, and he seriously couldn't afford to spend that time moping about what was going on back there. He couldn't change anything right now, and he had already promised himself he wasn't going to try. His attention was better focused in this part of the world, for the sake of a continued profitable business and a promising future for his younger brother. And that would always be his top priority.

Katsuya hadn't brought it up right away. He had felt the need to wait until Honda was more than a few feet in the door to spring this revelation on him and demand his opinion. So it was that they'd inevitably been caught up playing Xbox first, and himself temporarily forgetting entirely the reason he had invited his friend over. Finally, Honda died (on screen) and announced he was bored with that particular game. Katsuya needed to strike now.

Using one hand to find the remote and turn off the TV so they didn't have to endure a loud background of static noise while they talked, he tried to open the conversation with as casual a tone as he could manage, "Hey, um, wondering if I can get your opinion on something?"

Honda did not immediately pick up on the forcedness of his speech at all, he didn't even look up as he replied, instead concentrating on packing the controllers and game cartridges away; "Sure, what's up?"

"Well, actually, it's about Kaiba."

Honda grew swiftly angry with the way the controllers didn't fit properly underneath the tv stand, and so he just left them in a pile on the floor and turned finally to his friend, "what about him? You guys have a fight?"

"Not exactly,"

"Hey, didn't you say he was in India or something at the moment?"

"America, but yeah."

"Right. Whatever. So…"

Moment of truth. It was rather painful, to be honest. "Actually, me and Kaiba have been getting along a bit better than normal lately."

Honda frowned at him, "And this is a problem because…?"

"It's not… really," Katsuya hastily corrected, "But I mean like… okay this is really hard to say." He looked at Honda and realized if he didn't spell it out though, the brunet would never understand, so he took a deep breath; "Kaiba kind of… likes… me. And perhaps, you know, now that I've gotten to know him a bit better and realized he is only a prick most of the time, not all of the time, that maybe I think he isn't so bad either?" Katsuya crossed his mental fingers, it hadn't emerged from his mouth quite as it had been in his head, but he hoped it was enough to make the other man understand.

Honda blinked, slowly; "So what you're saying is that Kaiba is gay? And what… you're gay too?"

"No," Katsuya shook his head, "It's just that…urr…"

Thankfully, Honda interrupted him, "Dude, it's fine. You can be gay, I won't care. Just don't hit on me."

Katsuya was kind of repulsed by the thought, "You're safe, don't worry. And to be honest, I never even considered thinking this way before Kaiba came along."

Honda looked oddly thoughtful, and then suddenly grinned; "That so? He really that fantastic in bed?"

Katsuya looked shocked, "Hey, I haven't slept with him or anything!" But his tone quickly dropped to something a little less harsh as the objective of this whole conversation pushed insistently at the back of his mind; "Anyway, I kind of wanted your opinion on the whole thing…"

Honda looked mildly surprised, "What? Didn't I just give you that? I said I honestly don't care who you see, be they woman, man, cross-dressing man, or goat."

Katsuya smiled, "Hey, thanks. I appreciate that."

"And I rekon Kaiba's gotten… a bit nicer since high school. Certainly seemed genuine the few time's I've met him recently."

"Yeah…" Katsuya's thoughts trailed off momentarily, "Hey, do you think anyone else will have a problem with this?" He withheld the information, for the moment, that Anzu already knew.

"Heck no. Your friends are your friends no matter what you date."

"Who," He automatically corrected him.

Honda grinned, "Sure, if you say so. But seriously, I wouldn't worry about it. Just tell us when you're ready." He leaned back in a manner Katsuya determined to mean that he considered there no more arguments to be had on that particular manner.

"Yeah, guess I just have to tell Kaiba now too," He said almost distractedly.

"Hmmm?"

Katsuya explained.

"So, you think you'll be making this decision any time soon?"

Katsuya wasn't looking at Honda, but staring off at the tv, suddenly lost in the thoughts evoked by the recent discussion. He answered in a distracted fashion, "I think I've already done that."

Seto was aware it was silly, but his instincts instructed him to rush, post-haste, to his office and seek Jonouchi's answer immediately. This would have been not only over-doing it, but the fact that it was also twelve o'clock at night meant there was every possibility on Earth that he would be home in bed asleep right now.

So rush to his house?

Now, that came close to stalker behaviour.

He would just have to force himself to wait. He'd waited four weeks, he could wait a little longer.

The drive home seemed long and endless. He had specifically instructed Mokuba not to meet him at the airport, and instead get a good nights sleep as it took priority whilst he studied. He found himself wishing his brother would stop listening to him so often.

Seto was back in the country, but he still felt far away from Jou. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to say when he got back to work. A large part of him hoped that Jou would be kind enough to just come out and say how he felt, one way or the other, and get it over and done with. Waiting was not a task a CEO was designed for. He was used to things arriving seconds after he'd made the decision to order them.

He eventually arrived home in the quite early hours of the next morning. He had his assistants take his luggage immediately to his room, but asked them not to unpack it all until the next morning. The last thing he needed that night was for a maid to try to sneak around his room as quietly as possible unpacking everything while he tried to sleep. So instead he stared at the black designer suitcases lying next to his bed, filled with dry-cleaned clothes and ironed shirts, and moved to take off his shoes and socks.

He pulled his personal items from one of his bags and placed his phone along with his wallet next to his bed. It was then that he remembered he hadn't turned his personal phone on in almost three weeks, and, still not enjoying the reminder of Jou that it brought, he reluctantly switched it back on and let it power up. He continued getting changed into night clothes until he heard the distinct "bing bing" noise of a message received. He paused, and then turned to check that he had heard correctly, that in fact sleepiness was not incurring on his hearing ability. He illuminated the display on his phone and squinted through tired eyes to see what all the fuss was about.

He had indeed received a message. And two missed calls, apparently. He checked the text message. It was from his phone company informing him that the second time the caller had rung he had left a voice mail message.

Seto instantly dismissed the possibility that it was Mokuba; Mokuba would not have stopped at just one voice mail, nor was it likely that if he had really wanted to speak to his brother he wouldn't have done so by other more 'official' channels. Using the work phone for personal use was a private hobby of the younger Kaiba. Which meant a relative perhaps? Not many people actually had this number, he didn't like just handing it to everyone, so only very important members of staff had it, just incase there was an emergency and they couldn't possibly reach him any other way. (Which added ever so slightly to Seto's level of guilt as he realized he'd had the thing switched off for nearly three weeks).

Wait… members of staff?

It was about the longest shot in the world, but Seto was too curious not to find out. Besides, if it was unimportant he would simply address it in the morning, and apologise for not getting back to the caller sooner.

He dialed the voice message retrieval number and waited for a spirited pre-recorded Japanese woman to inform him that he had one new message. (Well sure, why else would he be checking it). He waited quite tensely for the message to play, and once it did his heart very nearly stopped.

"Hi…um…Kaiba. It's Jou. I know it's early but I thought if I didn't say this now I'd probably change my mind. To be honest, I'm not… I wasn't even sure if you were serious when you said it. And I feel more than a little weird saying this over the phone, but hey, you aren't exactly in the country. I think… I mean, okay… I like you. God knows why, but there, I said it. Well, that's it I suppose. I guess I'll see you when you get back. Bye."

The pre-recorded women, completely unaware that his life had just been turned upside down once more, continued on chirpily to announce the time and date of the message.

It had been sent two weeks ago.

Seto suddenly realized he was somehow standing next to the door. He blinked, now wide awake. He wasn't sure if what he'd just heard was actually real or not; but there would be time to clarify such things as he heard it again in the car.

Katsuya was sure the first time he heard it, he had dreamt it. So he had ignored it and tried to go back to sleep. Then he had heard it again and this time had been slightly less sure that it wasn't actually someone ringing his doorbell in the middle of the night, rather than him simply dreaming someone was ringing his doorbell in the middle of the night.

Which, to be perfectly honest, was quite an odd thing to dream about in the first place, he knew.

It took a few seconds for him to get his eyes open, and then a few more while he blinked and attempted to get his brain to focus on the present. Nothing about him was really awake, but he somehow managed to pull himself from his bed and in the general direction of the front door, aided (it should be noted) with no lack of help from the sturdy walls of the apartment. He reached a space about three or four steps from the door when he paused and waited. If he really had been dreaming, all that would happen when he opened his door would be a gust of freezing night air entering in to ruin the residual warmth from the bed covers.

So he waited, just to see.

Some long moments passed, and he turned to leave when…

DING DONG.

Well, guess it was real then. Still blinking and not nearly awake, Katsuya lurched forward and twisted the few locks on his door and then pulled it open. It wasn't, he decided, exactly the person he had expected at this hour.

"K…Kaiba?" He slurred slightly as he braced himself on the door frame with one arm. "Do you know what time it is?"

Seto realized in exactly the kind of sudden way you realize that you've locked your keys inside your car, that this was probably one of the most irrational things he might have done. Apparently, he had absolutely no self control when it came to Jou, and some part of his brain had actually imagined it was a good idea to be waking him up at 3:30 in the morning to say hi. The poor boy looked completely bedraggled.

"Yes, I'm completely sorry. Go back to sleep." And with that, he turned around and walked back down the hall to the elevator.

Katsuya stared, although it might have looked more like a squint to the common passerby. He attempted to process what had just happened but he still wasn't exactly sure. Had Kaiba just shown up on his doorstep, apologized for waking him, and then turned to go home again?

He was fairly sure that was the case, but his logic processors just weren't buying it.

If that was the case however, the only part of him that seemed to be working wisely asked him; why are you letting him leave?

Oh! He'd completely forgotten he liked Seto too and had spent the last four weeks without him, wishing he was back already.

Well, almost forgotten.

"Kaiba, wait!" Katsuya called, ignoring the distinct need for footwear and warmer clothes and rushing out of the apartment in his pajamas.

Seto was a few houses down, not quite at the elevator yet, when he heard the call and stopped to turn around. Seeing Jou rush towards him wearing next to nothing like that made his chest inexplicably tighten.

Katsuya pulled up short, the cold air had woken him considerably now and he properly took in the other man standing before him. Kaiba didn't look like he had slept in awhile, his shirt looked distinctly crumpled, like it hadn't been taken off for perhaps a day or two, and his hair looked like it could do with a decent brush. A thought struck him: had Kaiba come straight from the airport to his house!?

"Jonouchi, I apologize for waking you up…" Seto tried again, not even close to what he actually wanted to say, but he first needed to gauge whether Jou was annoyed by this or not.

Katsuya waved a hand dismissively, "It's okay, it's not like I was fast asleep or anything. I mean, healthy people are normally wide awake at this time right?"

Seto winced, but knew he was joking. "Well, as you can see, I certainly am."

Katsuya didn't try to hide his smile, "Can we go inside? I'm freezing out here."

Seto nodded, and followed the other back to his door. He had a very strong desire to reach out his arm and put it around the other to shield him from the cold, but he resisted it. He wasn't exactly sure quite where they were just now; he didn't want to push the boundaries before he needed to.

The door safely locked behind him, Katsuya felt it was only polite to offer Kaiba something to eat or drink, but he refused both. He felt the need to ask, "So have you, uh, slept at all? You look a bit worn out… You haven't come from the airport have you?"

Seto wasn't the kind of man who blushed, but if he was he would have used this opportunity to do so. He coughed instead, "Um, perhaps."

Katsuya was silent for a few moments, and suddenly he felt quite nervous having Kaiba standing there in the middle of his untidy apartment. His eyes flicked from the sprawling mess of video games gathered in a vague pile next to the television, to the numerous socks scattered all over the floor, to the … underwear? … hanging from the top of his cupboard door.

Oh Jesus.

How did it even get up there?

Apparently Kaiba hadn't noticed any of this however, (or if he had he chose not to comment), and was instead staring intently at him. For some reason that made Katsuya's insides turn into a squiggly pile of jelly.

"Uh…s…so you came here instead of going home to sleep did you?" He asked the general direction of the wall somewhere to Kaiba's right.

"Yes. I got your message," The other man prompted. Katsuya was hit with a sudden remembrance of that particular message, and he could feel his cheeks turning a bright shade of scarlet.

"Is that so? Well, good to hear you're keeping up to date with things."

Seto took a distinct step toward the blond. He was beginning to realize that Jou was never going to act on his own in this sort of situation (drunkenness aside), so something needed to come from himself. "It made me very happy,"

Kaiba's tone was suddenly a lot softer and distinctly more serious, and it sent shivers right down Katsuya's spine. He couldn't think of anything to say in the few more seconds it took the other to complete the short distance between them and entangle them together in the most mind-blowing kiss he thought he'd ever experienced.

When they broke apart he thought he was going to melt, luckily Kaiba's arms were wrapped around his waist and were holding him nicely upright.

"You realize you can't take it back once you've said it, right?"

"Mmmm…said what?"

"That you like me too." Seto spoke into his neck, making Katsuya heat up considerably.

"Well, so far you haven't done too much to convince me I've made the wrong decision. Save waking me up at this ungodly hour of course."

"I thought you'd forgiven me for that already."

He paused, "Not quite yet. I might need a bit more convincing that it was worth missing the sleep."

Seto pulled back and looked him in the eye, "I might be able to find some way to do that,"

Katsuya thought he looked like he had purely sinful thoughts in mind. He also thought he didn't care.

After that, there wasn't much else to be said… also within minutes neither of them were wearing any clothes, which left little time for many more words to be considered anyway. They kept going because, Katsuya would later ponder, they no longer really had a reason to stop. Almost all his reservations had blown out the door the minute he had opened it to let Kaiba in. Plus it was feeling really good, and he had been taught long ago that if you found a good thing, you shouldn't throw it away.

Katsuya would also later reflect that being the 'girl' of a relationship (something he had at the odd moment pondered would be utterly embarrassing) did also come with a tiny amount of good points. He was assured it would become nicer with practice.

He assumed there would be lots more opportunities to do just that…

Katsuya woke up with a start. Normally he might have shot straight up and taken a look around, this morning a number of things stopped him doing this. Not least of all was that he was very aware of the fact that someone else was there in his bed. Wide and alert, he turned to look at Seto sleeping next to him. His brown hair fell all over his eyes, and with something of a minor fixation Katsuya watched his naked chest rise and fall with the slow rhythm of a sleep regulated breathing pattern.

It would take a lot to turn back now, but he knew deep down that he really didn't want to. Gingerly he eased himself up to more of a sitting position and looked down at the other man. Kaiba looked so peaceful as he was now, and Katsuya felt a strong desire to see this image again at a later date. He touched his hair, and Seto stirred very slightly but didn't wake up.

Neither of the two men really did mushy interactions. Katsuya's current actions had him walking a very thin line between 'acceptable' and 'womanly' in this department. So he wasn't going to be overly familiar with his 'feelings' in this case, what had happened was simply what naturally occurred next when two people expressed an inclination towards one another.

Besides, one of the things he liked most about Kaiba was the CEO's ability to not take everything too seriously, to always be able to look at things from a sarcastic point of view, and to forever be ready with a come-back. (However serious some of the things he had said last night might have sounded). He was so far away thinking about this that he didn't notice Seto's eyes open.

"You know, I honestly believed it took work to get your hair looking that disheveled everyday, but apparently it comes naturally."

Katsuya raised an eyebrow, "You're not exactly an oil painting yourself in the mornings. Do you normally get someone to do your makeup before you leave the bedroom, or after your morning coffee?"

Seto smirked, the little interaction actually now filled him with an unexplainable feeling of happiness. "Speaking of coffee?"

Katsuya also displayed a small smile of his own, "You know where the kitchen is. Don't think I'm getting anything for you today."

"Actually I am unfamiliar with the particular layout of this establishment, I didn't exactly spend too much time examining it last night."

Katsuya contemplated how easy it would be to remove the pillow from under his head and proceed to impale him with it. Instead, as if to further prove his defiance, he flopped pointedly back down onto the mattress and crossed his arms; "Well I'm definitely not getting up, if you want some you can get it yourself."

"Actually, I'm less inclined also, now that you're lying back down next to me."

Katsuya went bright red, and turned, hiding his face against Seto's body. "Shutup." He ordered with no amount of conviction.

Remarkably, Kaiba said nothing for quite a few minutes, and Katsuya took a peek up to see what was going on, only to find the other man had apparently dozed off again. He rested his head back down and in his own remarkably comfortable position, actually became overwhelmed with a similar urge to return to a less wakeful state.

I think we've earned the morning off, Katsuya thought right before he drifted off once again. It was, without question, the most contented sleep he had enjoyed in months.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

OWARI

End Note (rant): If you're reading this, it means you made it right through to the end of the story/novel/fan fiction I wrote in my spare time to save myself from the pressures of a seemingly permanent career as a student. There are a number of reoccurring reviewers who I would love to thank for you continued support while I wrote this. The end… was kind of simple and lame, I will concede. If I am to be perfectly honest with you readers, I did lose quite a lot of inspiration and enthusiasm for this fic. Mainly owing to the fact that I stopped reading the YuGiOh manga, and departed from the fandom for quite awhile. As yet I still haven't seen the ending to the series. Yes, I'm that bad. Maybe something will eventually come along which will jump start my love capacitor and make me obsessed with it again. But until then…

"No sex scene? WTF Man!!" Yes, sorry about that. In the end I couldn't bring myself to write one. The nature of this story is entirely humorous and nonsensical. I decided not only would I do a terrible job at writing one, but that it somewhat imposed on the disposition of the writing to begin with to have something so incredibly serious. (And if that wasn't tooting my own horn enough, I'm not sure what is).

I guess at the very end, the whole reason this story is even finished is because a couple of people right across on the other side of the world I've never met wanted it to be. I managed to actually finish something and it's thanks to your support. It wouldn't have made it past two chapters if it weren't for you guys, so thank you, very much. Humanity is a funny old thing, though remarkable, in its ability to connect.