...I FINISHED IT! ^^

Yay! Now I can FINALLY get this off of my concience. XD

So! I won't hold you back! READ AND ENJOY!

Disclaimer: Nope. Do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Kazuki Takahashi does. How I wish I was an old Japanese manga-maker sometimes...-sighs sadly-

Pairings: ...if you don't know it through the other chapters...

Warnings: Not many. Some hints of kinkyness? And a moral-cookie.

READ AND REVIEW! =D

Chapter 8

Normal POV

Step 8: Be patient! Sooner or later He will fall for your charms! Keep following step 1-7 at all times! Confidence is the key to getting His heart! You GO, girl!

"…you have GOT to be kidding me." Jou stared at the new step, thinking that if he stared long enough the words might change into something helpful.

It didn't.

Jou gave a small sound of disgust, throwing the magazine away. What kind of a lame advice was that?!

"One of the lame advices YOU have been following all week?" A voice drawled sarcastically inside of his mind. Jou told it kindly to shut the fuck up.

It wasn't even an advice! It was, like…a filler-advice! Like someone had gone halfway through the steps and then just run out of ideas with the deadline fast approaching(and perhaps that was just the case, Jou thought sadly)!

Jou sighed, flopping down on his bed. Well, what had he to lose by still following the advices? Already, he had gotten much, much closer to Kaiba…

A rather goofy, dreamy grin went over Jou's face. For the fifth time that day, he touched his cheek over the spot Kaiba had kissed him. Why yes, Jou remembered the exact spot. Not in the middle of his cheek on the softest spot like most people did. In line with the tip of his nose, rather far back so the journey to his ear wouldn't be to long to whisper goodnight. Kaiba and his way of being effective and saving time...

Was it weird that he found that kind of cute?

"Why yes, yes it is", his mind told him. Once again Jou told it to shut it's yap. He had daydreaming to take care of.

Just thinking about the previous evening made Jou giggle unstoppably. His father had dropped in a couple of times when he did this to make sure he hadn't gone insane all of a sudden.

The dancing…the way Kaiba had pointed out the constellations for him, while holding his hand…the damned whisper of his name that made him shudder still if he thought about it. That voice was BEYOND sexy. It was, like…not out of a porno, hell no. No lewd movie star could EVER match that deep, husky voice…

And Jou promptly decided not to go there. A hard on was NOT what he needed at the moment. He was supposed to be figuring out how to get closer to Kaiba again! And get a real kiss, not on the cheek, this time…

Well…following the advices of the magazine probably would work. Since he had no other plan. Which meant he'd have to get up extra early tomorrow to fix his hair and all that…Jou groaned slightly.

The sacrifices he made in the name of love. If Kaiba only knew.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Monday

Normal POV

Lunch

That morning when Jou entered the classroom, he once more had his hair in that stylish ponytail and wore the improved version of his school uniform. Everyone's eyes followed him again, girls started to whisper amongst themselves about him…

Kaiba didn't even look up from his book.

Jou felt slightly disappointed at that, but thought nothing of it. Instead of walking up to his friends immediately, he skipped up to Kaiba's desk to stand next to him. Time to once more put step one into action; greet happily!

"Good morning, Kaiba!" He chimed, smiling down at him. Which shocked everyone in the classroom. Jou NEVER initiated conversation with Kaiba in the morning. Well, no one did that…but still, ESPECIALLY not Jou!

Kaiba spared him a small glance, before looking back down into his book. "Hn." Was his only response.

Jou gaped. What…the…hell? Yesterday, Kaiba had been all over him(err, in a Kaiba-ish 'not really all over him', way), even kissing him on the cheek...and now he wouldn't even give him a proper good morning?

Well…Jou wasn't giving up that easily. "So, um…did you get home alright?" He asked, straddling the chair in front of the young CEO.

"Yes." A stiff, cold, emotionless response.

"Oh…good." Jou fell silent, frowning slightly. What was this? Last night had been fine, so what had crawled up Kaiba's ass and died now?

Instead of focusing on that, Jou tried to follow the steps again. Step three; act interested in what he's interested in…

"So, what you reading?" Jou smiled politely.

"Animal farm." Kaiba mumbled, flipping a page. In that way that screamed 'go away and leave me the fuck alone before I slam your face into my desk'.

"Oh…is it good? What's it about?"

"I wouldn't be reading it if it wasn't worthwhile. And it's too complicated to explain to a canine." Kaiba sent a small glare over the edge of the book.

Jou's heart clenched slightly at the sudden bastard attitude. Then, he growled slightly and got up. He wasn't going to sit here and just take that! He slammed a hand into Kaiba's desk, glaring down heatedly into those cold, blue eyes that got a strange glint when Jou started yelling. "Okay, what the hell's your problem, you-!"

"Jounouchi!" A shrill female voice interrupted Jou's question and he quickly snapped around to look fearfully at the teacher.

"E-Err, yes teach?" He asked nervously.

The old woman seethed, pointing to Jou's desk. "Get into your seat and stop bothering Kaiba-kun!" She snapped, before starting to scribble down things on the blackboard.

"But, I was just-!" Jou gave a loud yell when a hard piece of chalk hit him in the forehead, obviously thrown by the teacher. "Ow! Hey, that hurt!"

"To your seat!" Another shriek. Sometimes, that teacher really reminded Jou of a crow with those sounds…

"Alright, alright…" He mumbled, sulkily stomping over to his seat, sinking down next to Honda. His shark haired friend patted his back in sympathy.

Jou glanced at Kaiba, whom calmly put away his book when the teacher shrieked at him to concentrate on the lesson. The blond felt so confused…why would Kaiba just start acting like a total bastard all of a sudden? It didn't make sense at all! Everything had gone just fine that Saturday…

Damnit, why did Kaiba have to be so…so…confusing?! Jou huffed softly, doodling aimlessly in his notebook while the teacher talked. Well, maybe he was just in a bad mood in the morning. He'd try the rest of the steps during the day when maybe he was in a better mood…

But, no matter what Jou tried, did or said during the day, Kaiba ignored him. When he tried to talk to him, he either walked away or just replied with soft 'hn's. So, by the end of the day, Jou was thoroughly confused and rather upset. It really made no sense what so ever!

When home, Jou read the magazine again to look through the steps. Had he done something wrong?

Step 1: Look your best to make him notice you. Greet him.

He had! He really had looked his best all day and he had greeted him kindly. Why hadn't that worked then?!

Step 2: Make eye contact.

Been there, done that. All through every lesson he had almost stared his eyes out at Kaiba. But for some reason, the brunet had been hell-bent on not looking his way.

Step 3: Get to know him. Try to act interested in his interests.

Jou had done that at once by asking about that book…Animal farm. Stupid title. Huff.

Step 4: Body contact.

Brushed against Kaiba six times in the hallways, been greeted by an irritated 'watch where you're going, mutt' each time. He had forced himself not to kick Kaiba's ass and apologized politely, which had only earned him a weird look before Kaiba stormed off.

Step 5: Flirt.

Err…okay, so he hadn't exactly done that. Only a little with some subtle comment about something or other concerning physics, which he had only been snorted at and deadpanned("The human body isn't electrically charged like a magnet, mutt.").

Step 6: Confidence in his body.

Hell if he hadn't shown off his body today! He had tried the whole bending over thing again, in gym for example(which had earned him a smack on the ass by the old teacher. Jou remained as straight as a board for the remainder of class) and had even sat down on Kaiba's desk to show off his legs. Which had only served him a hard shove in the side so he fell onto the floor(it had hurt like a bitch, too!).

Step 7: Make him jealous.

Okay, so…Jou hadn't exactly done that. Flirting with other guys when in school felt…stupid. Specially since Kaiba wasn't watching anyways.

And finally, Step 8(now dubbed; the stupid advice): Follow the advices above.

…wasn't it obvious that he had? Damn, useless piece of junk…

Needless to say, Jounouchi Katsuya was not a very patient person. If a strategy didn't work out, may it be in sports, duel monsters or real life, Jou would just dump the strategy and move on with a new one(why waste time on something that obviously didn't work?). And that was exactly what he was going to do now.

Jou pouted, stuffing the magazine into his back. He'd return it to Anzu tomorrow(hopefully, she wouldn't catch on to that he had followed the steps). Then, he's go back to being plain ol' Jou. Not that weird self he had been lately. He'd stop the silly staring, smiling and acting sweet to Kaiba. It just wasn't him! And it wasn't working anyways.

No, from now on, if Kaiba provoked him, he'd fucking kick his ass! Verbally, of course. Even Jou had to admit that Kaiba was pretty fucking strong…and had some nice moves to. Probably trained karate or something, the rich bastard. No more 'Mr. Niceguy'. From now on he'd be himself and Kaiba would just have to deal!

So, Jou put away his tight tank top and resolutely pulled out his ponytail. He took a quick shower to free his hair from the terrible restraints of hair products to allow it to be messy and light again(if Jou had strained his ears, he would have heard his hair cry out in joy). Then, he threw the eyeliner into the small trash can next to his desk.

Jou turned to his mirror, giving himself a quick look over. Blond, overly messy hair that hung into his face, covering everything, only barely letting his amber eyes peek out between some bangs.

Baggy t-shirt, not at all tight school uniform pants and an open school jacket slung over his shoulder.

With a cheeky grin, Jou gave himself a thumbs up. Perfect.

Tuesday

There was a murmur of great disappointment that Tuesday morning when Jou waltzed in. Everyone stared at him, until he rolled his eyes and snapped in his usual loud, slightly obnoxious way. "Oi! What'ya all looking at?"

That shut them all up alright and sent them back to minding their own business. Almost every girl and some guys gave Jou heartbroken, disappointed looks before slowly turning away. Their eye candy was gone!

"Hiya, guys!" Jou sunk down in his seat next to Honda, grinning playfully. "What's new?"

Anzu gave Jou an almost empty look, before sniffling softly and storming off to some other girls to bawl together with them.

Ryou looked as if he wanted to do the same.

Yugi smiled in his usual way. "Morning, Jou-kun!"

Honda cheered loudly. "Aw, yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Jou suddenly found himself caught in a vicious headlock, harsh knuckles giving him a none-too gentle noodgie. "Jou's back to normal!"

"Akk! Let go of me, you freak!" Jou yelped, desperately trying to wrestle his way out of the strong hold.

"Not happening, man! If I do, you might run away again and act all lovey-dovey with Ka-" Before he could finish that sentence, Jou stomped his heel into Honda's foot. Hard. "OW!" Honda immediately let go of Jou to grab his injured foot, jumping around on one leg in obvious pain. "Fuck you!"

"Likewise!" Jou huffed, sinking back down into his seat, running a hand through his even messier hair a few times to tame it a little.

While Honda hollered in pain still, Yugi tugged gently on Jou's sleeve with a small smile. "Ne, Jou? What made you change your style again? I dare say most people liked it." He gave a friendly smile.

"You can say that again." Ryou muttered, giving a small, sad sigh. Not more than a second later did Bakura materialize from the Millennium Ring, grabbed Ryou and snogged him into oblivion, while muttering something about 'paying so much attention to that bloody dog instead of me' between the passionate lip locks. Needless to say, Ryou was rather occupied for the next few minutes.

Ignoring the make out party behind him, Jou turned to Yugi and shrugged. "Well…these last few days, I haven't been myself. I've been acting like…something I'm obviously not. I do that too often, Yug'…and I can't keep doing that. From now on, I'll just be plain ol' Jou. People will have to deal or take it up with the big man." Jou flashed a victorious grin, pointing his thumb towards himself.

"…you could at least have kept the eyeliner." Anzu suddenly mumbled, having returned from her crying-mania to sit down next to Yugi. She looked like she had recovered mostly, even though her eyes were red from the tears.

"EH?!" Jou fell out of his chair with a small groan. "Anzuuuu! Did you completely miss the point of my speech?! Being myself, not trying to be something I'm not...all that?!"

"I'm just saying!" Anzu defended herself, huffing. "You looked damned hot in that eyeliner!"

"I'm still not wearing it!"

"But only on Fridays on free clothes day…"

"I'M NOT WEARING IT!"

While Jou was busy arguing with Anzu about the eyeliner, he completely missed the glance he got from Kaiba. A small smirk played on the thin lips, before he turned back to his book with a quietly murmured, "Finally."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was once again supposed to be a normal 'Jou-running-down-the-corridors-to-raid-the-cafeteria' day. Really! Ducking from enraged girls that demanded that he changed back into his 'style of complete hotness' made him really hungry!

Alas, he didn't even get half way down the corridor before he forcefully bumped into someone. With a yelp, he made a sort of half twirl and ended up flying past the person(who was solid as a brick wall) and onto his ass.

"Watch where you're going, mutt." A cold, deadly voice said smoothly above him.

Jou froze. Only ONE person could speak like that. He quickly looked up.

Looming over him was Kaiba. He was brushing his hand against the shoulder Jou had bumped into, as if brushing away some dust. Which Jou found kind of unnecessary, since his school uniform was as untainted and clean as ever. Stupid billionaire. Was he really such a clean-freak that he saw dust everywhere?

Jou quickly scrambled himself to his feet. For what felt like the first time in years, he let his annoyance show clearly. "I am not a dog, Kaiba! And I can't help tha' your ego was in my way! So why don't ya shove your comments right up your-woaah!" Before Jou could finish his tirade of words, he found his arm being grabbed tightly by Kaiba.

The next thing he knew, he was hauled into another room, which he soon found was an empty classroom. Kaiba let go of him once he was inside and Jou tumbled into one of the desks inside. "Ooww! That hurt, ya…" A soft click of a lock sliding into place made Jou fall silent. He turned his head to look at Kaiba hesitantly.

Before he could really do anything to protect himself, though, he found himself being slammed up against the wall next to the door. Kaiba's dark eyes drilled into his, dangerously glaring, hands resting on either side of his face, preventing escape…

"Finally." The low grunt surprised Jou and he opened his mouth to squeak out a surprised 'huh?'.

Before the sound could escape his mouth, though, Jou found it being covered.

It took him about five seconds to realize just WHAT that had covered it.

A pair of strong, not at all gentle, lips. After further investigation, Jou concluded that those lips belonged to none other than Kaiba Seto.

It still took another five seconds before Jou realized that Kaiba was /kissing/ him, not just trying to shut him up or choke him to death with his lips. And rather passionately too. Then, Jou finally reacted and his eyes widened to huge proportions…before falling shut and he moaned, starting to respond.

Maybe it wasn't as romantic as it would've been on a balcony under the starlit sky...but hey. Jou wasn't one to complain about petty details like that.

The kiss was rather short, but still left Jou panting and weak in the knees when Kaiba broke it with an almost embarrassingly loud 'smack'.

"Wha'…" Jou managed to choke out, blushing deeply, but was interrupted almost at once.

"Finally." The brunet mumbled again, kissing him very gently, then trailed his lips over his cheek and over to his ear. "I was waiting for you to go back to normal, Jounouchi."

"...eh? E-EH?!" Jou gaped at him. "Y-You...noticed?!"

"Of course I noticed." Seto rolled his eyes with a snort. "You were acting like one of my fangirls."

"A-Are you calling me girly?!"

"...you were the one wearing eyeliner." Seto suddenly smirked at the blushing teen. "Not that I really minded...you looked pretty."

"Pretty is a girl compliment!" Jou seethed and glared hard at him.

"Eyeliner." Deadpan.

"Shut up!"

"Hn."

"..."

"..."

"...so...we're together now, or...?" Jou asked hesitantly after a few seconds of silence.

"...hn. I don't do relationships." Seto shrugged. Before Jou could feel his heart crash to itty-bitty pieces in his chest, Seto leaned down to start nibbling on his neck. "...but...I wouldn't mind spending time with you on, let's say...a resturant. And a movie afterwards." A soft kiss to his pulsepoint made Jou shiver. "...and I certainly wouldn't mind doing more...physical things afterwards. Such as kissing. It would be exclusively between the two of us."

"...isn't that the definition of a rela-" Jou gasped when he was interrupted by a slightly harsher nip to his skin, with teeth this time.

"...do you want this or not?" Seto grumbled into his warm neck.

"...e-err, I think I can deal with your terms..."

"Hn. Good." The kisses grew...hotter, lingering...

"A-Ah...Seto, we're s-still in school..." Jou mumbled dazedly, still tugging on the buttons of Seto's jacket.

"Hn." No response, just a hot tongue dragging itself up to his ear.

"S-Seto..." Jou tried again, cheering inside of his dazed mind when he managed to get all the buttons open. Just to see a nicely buttoned shirt. Even smaller buttons. Groan.

"I heard you the first time." Seto stuck his tongue into Jou's ear, making the boy keen and melt into his arms. "Just...succumb to me..."

The hot breath in his ear drove away any worries in Jou's already dazed mind. What the heck. If someone saw, Seto would just deal with them anyway...

So, Jou just pulled Seto away from his ear, leaned up and smacked a hot, needy kiss onto his lips.

Resulting in a make-out session.

A very HOT make-out session.

And some groping too.

And...some sticky situations.

On top of the teacher's desk.

And Jou wouldn't have had it any other way.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Well then. It's time for the moral of this story.

Don't try to change yourself to get the guy (or girl) of your fancy. If you need to change for them, they're not right for you anyway.

...and eyeliner is a good invention. Whether it be for girls or guys.

The End

...guuuh. FINALLY. IT'S OVER!

...err, I mean...that was fun....so sad it's over...can't believe it...yaddayadda...

^^ Yep, I'm just glad it's over. And yeah, I chickened out of the lemon. Not because I can't write it, just because...it just wouldn't fit in. I tried getting it in, resulting in a looooong writer's block. Thus...this is what you get. Hints of a hot lemon happening. On top of a teacher's desk. Use your imagination. ;)

Thank you all for the support throughout this story. ^^

Please, leave a review! Whether it be to flame me or tell me it's good.

-The Blonde Midget