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The Valentine's Card	By : AtomBunny Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 3821 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!. That pleasure belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. This is solely written for fun and not for profit.

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Jou grumbled to himself as he limped slowly down the road, his mind a whirl of pain and emotion. What would normally have been a ten minute walk had so far taken him almost twice as long and he was still a fair way from Yugi's, which in a way was fine as he needed the time to get his emotions under control and to think about what he would tell his friends.

He sighed as he thought back to what Yugi had told him; that Kaiba wouldn't go so far out of his way just to humiliate him. Well, on current evidence, it would seem that Yugi was wrong, but in the event that he was mistaken and the restaurant staff had acted on their own, Kaiba would think that he'd stood him up anyway. He knew that the tall CEO wouldn't want to know if he tried to explain himself, so he was well and truly stuffed. What a wonderful Valentine's day this had been, he thought bitterly.

He was absently wondering if things would get worse between them now, or whether Kaiba would just ignore him altogether when he painfully stumbled. Groaning slightly as he regained his balance, he looked up to find a sleek dark limousine slowly passing by. Knowing who was likely to be inside, Jou put his head down again, determined to ignore it. He gritted his teeth as he limped onwards, faster, towards the Kame Game Shop which, to his relief, was now in sight. However, he ended up swearing under his breath as the limo stopped just in front of him and Kaiba got out, making a bee line for him with a stern expression on his face.

"Jonouchi, why didn't you show up?" Seto demanded angrily as he reached for the blond, only to deepen his scowl when Jonouchi flinched away from him. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know," Jonouchi spat as he raised pain filled eyes to Kaiba's. He hadn't intended to go off at Kaiba, but the pain he was in, both emotional and physical, combined with his insecurities had him lashing out. "So am I not humiliated enough for you yet?" He glared at Kaiba, only to see a blank look in return. "Whatever, I'm outta here," he said as he made to go past Kaiba and continue on to Yugi's, only to come to a sudden halt as Seto grabbed his arm.

"Not so fast, Mutt" he snarled. "Before you go any further I want that card back."

"I don't have it," Jou shot back.

"What, did you lose it already?" Seto spat, heart aching at Jou's carelessness over that show of trust. Maybe he had been a little ahead of himself by giving Jonouchi such a thing, but he'd reasoned that he could always blacklist the card in the event that things did not go as planned.

"Yeah, right," Jou growled in return as he wrenched his arm out of Kaiba's grasp. "Why don't you go ask your Head Waiter about it?"

"And what does he have to do with anything?" Seto demanded. He was beginning to get a suspicion over what may have happened, but he needed confirmation before he could act.

"You mean you really don't know?" Jou asked as he subsided slightly, hope warring with suspicion.

"Would I be asking you if I did?" Seto said with irritation, albeit a touch more gently than before.

Jou sighed. "I guess not," he said. "Well, your Head Waiter decided that I'd stolen the card, took it off me and had me thrown out." He looked warily at Kaiba to gauge his reaction.

Seto was stunned that his staff would dare to go against him like that, but he'd always had a bit of a weird feeling about that particular Head Waiter. Shaking off that train of thought for the moment, he looked around and realised that they were beginning to attract an audience. "Jonouchi, get in the limo." he said.

"Why should I?" Jou said belligerently, not quite ready to trust Kaiba yet.

"Puppy, please get in the limo," Seto said, "I promise that I didn't have anything to do with this." He did his best to let his sincerity show without seeming to beg. No matter the circumstances, Seto Kaiba did not beg, but as Jou made no move to comply he felt that he had to speak again. "Look around," he said, indicating the people watching with a sweep of his arm. "There are plenty of witnesses to see you get into the car if you are worried that something will happen to you."

Jou took note of the people watching them, gave Kaiba a measuring glance, nodded then began to limp towards the car, giving a start as Kaiba appeared at his shoulder to help him. Once inside, he sat gratefully on the comfortable seats, giving an appreciative groan at finally being able to get off his injured ankle.

Seto quickly got in after him and closed the door, concealing them from the prying eyes out on the street. He pressed the intercom. "Take us back to the Ritz please, Isono."

"Yes sir," the answer came as the car moved away.

--- --- --- --- ---

Meanwhile, Yugi and the others had decided to watch a movie together as they waited to see how Jou's date turned out. Well, apart from Otogi who had breezed out after Jou had left, saying that he had a date of his own. Knowing the Dice Master it was probably just with some shallow fangirl that had fallen for his good looks and charm rather than anything serious.

As the remaining teens were making popcorn and setting up the DVD that they intended to watch, Ryou happened to look out of the window. He watched Jou and Kaiba having their little altercation with wide eyes, only coming back to himself as the limo began to pull away.

"Hey Yugi," Ryou called the attention of the other boy, "I just saw Jou and Kaiba having an argument out on the street."

"What!" Honda exclaimed as he was listening in. He dashed to the window, "Where?"

"Jou got in the limo with Kaiba and it drove off," Ryou said, pointing out where the limo was just going out of sight.

"Are you sure it was them?" Yugi asked reasonably.

"Oh yes," Ryou confirmed. "Jou was wearing what we dressed him in earlier and who could mistake Kaiba in that trench coat of his," he shook his head in mild amusement. "It was most definitely them."

"So why would they be out there now? It's only just half past six..." Anzu pointed out.

"I don't know," Ryou said thoughtfully, "But Jou seemed to be limping slightly."

"Fuck, I knew it was a bad idea to let him go to meet that asshole," Honda spat. "I don't care how much Jou likes him, if that bastard has done anything to him..."

"We don't know anything for sure yet, Honda," Yugi pointed out, "and I'm sure that Jou wouldn't go with Kaiba if he'd done anything to him."

"He could have forced him," Honda was not ready to let it go just yet.

"It didn't look as though he was forced," Ryou said, "and you know better than any of us that Jou won't be forced into anything without fighting back. No, if anything Kaiba looked to be helping him rather than forcing him."

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see," Anzu said. "We all know that Jou can look after himself and I'm sure that there is a reasonable explanation."

"Fine," Honda subsided reluctantly, "But if that bastard has done anything to Jou..." he let the sentence hang in the air threateningly.

"We wouldn't expect anything less, Honda," Yugi said, "but I'm sure that everything is OK."

--- --- --- --- ---

Jou gave a start as he heard their destination. "Hey what gives? Why are we going back there?"

"First of all, I'm going to deal with that Head Waiter, then we are going to have dinner as was planned in the first place," Seto gave Jou an odd look, "That is, if you still want to..." Jou's stomach gave a growl and Seto smiled. "I guess your stomach still wants to anyway."

Jou's breath was taken away as he saw the genuine smile on Seto's lips. He looked handsome normally, but with a smile like that he looked absolutely gorgeous. "So... you really didn't set this up?" he asked with more than a little insecurity evident in his voice.

Seto was about to snap back, but realised that Jou needed to hear this specifically, much like he'd needed to hear what the Head Waiter had done to Jou earlier. "No, I didn't," he confirmed. "I've heard a few complaints about that particular Head Waiter from some of my clients, but I never thought that he would dare to go this far." Seto scowled, "He's overstepped the mark spectacularly this time and will need to be dismissed." Jou simply nodded, not wanting to tell Seto how he should run his own company. Besides, the guy totally deserved it.

A moment later the car pulled to a stop and, without waiting for Isono to do his job, Seto got out of the car and swept into the lobby of the Ritz, leaving Jou to follow on behind.

"Mr. Kaiba, sir," the Head Waiter said with some surprise, "Back so soon?"

"Yes, I have some... unfinished business," Kaiba said with the hint of a sneer.

Just then Jou entered the lobby. "Hold up Kaiba," he said as he limped towards the CEO, "I can't move so fast right now."

Seto was about to turn around to offer Jou an apology as he hadn't thought to ask how Jou had hurt his ankle in the first place and hadn't realised that Jou was not right behind him, but he was disturbed as the Head Waiter gasped.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir," the man said with horror in his voice. "Just let me call Kaji to get rid of this," he sneered, "trash." He clapped his hands and Kaji moved towards a horrified Jou, only to stop suddenly as Seto spoke up.

"Hold it!" the CEO commanded forcefully. "What on earth do you think you are doing?" he demanded, outraged at Jou's treatment.

"I'm just having this undesirable removed from the establishment, sir," the Head Waiter said.

"Before you do that," Seto said, "I believe that you have one of my cards."

"Why, yes sir, it's right here," He reached under the podium and pulled out the card that Seto had given to Jou earlier. He made to hand it over, but Seto forestalled him.

"Tell me, what does it say on the card?" Seto demanded.

The waiter dutifully looked at the card, then looked up at Kaiba with a touch of fear. "It says that the bearer of the card has unlimited clearance."

Kaiba fixed the man with a steely glare as he took the card from his trembling hand and handed it directly back to Jou who made a show of putting it into his wallet. "So, why wasn't Jonouchi admitted without question?" he demanded.

The man spluttered as he tried to justify himself, "But... but that ruffian used to be in a gang!"

"Do you think I don't know that?" Kaiba said with more than a touch of exasperation, "And that is the key phrase – he used to be. I happen to know that he's been trying to improve his lot since breaking free of those undesirables, but prejudiced people like yourself aren't helping with that. Besides which, who I choose to have dinner with is none of your concern." He glared at the now pale and visibly sweating man, "I've heard plenty of complaints about you in the past, but you really have overstepped your bounds this time. As of now you are fired. Get your personal possessions and leave"

"But sir," the man made to protest again, "I was only looking out for your best interests..."

"And what on earth makes you think that you are qualified to look out for my best interests?" Seto asked the man incredulously. He did not wait for an answer, however, but looked at Kaji and beckoned him over. "Go with him while he gets his things and make sure that he leaves," he instructed, "then I want to talk to you about what happened earlier."

"Yes sir," the large man bowed, then he turned his attention to the now ex-Head Waiter. "Come on, you heard the boss. Get moving." He herded Takeo out of the lobby, the greasy little man complaining all the way.

Once the pair had left, Seto turned to a visibly gobsmacked Jou. "Are you alright?" he asked with a little concern.

"I'm fine," Jou said, coming out of his stupor. "I just never thought I'd see the day where you would stand up for me," he grinned, "Thanks, Kaiba. I appreciate it."

"Come on," Seto said, taking Jou's hand and leading him into the restaurant, ignoring any curious looks he was getting from those already dining. He settled Jou into his personal booth then gave him an apologetic look. "Unfortunately I now have a couple of things to deal with, but I'll be with you as soon as I can. Will you be OK?"

"Sure," Jou gave him a wide smile that belied his insecurities. "Go do what you have to do, I'm not going anywhere."

"I won't be long," Seto said, then he swept back out into the lobby to find and speak to the security guard.

True to his word, Seto was less than twenty minutes, having promoted one of the wait staff to the Head Waiter position, made sure that they still had enough staff to cover, then given Kaji a warning after his explanation and apology for inadvertently causing Jou to injure himself.

While Jou had sat and waited for Kaiba, one of the other members of staff came to him and offered to strap his foot up. Jou accepted after the young woman insisted that it really would be for the best. He also accepted the stool she brought so that he could keep his foot elevated and the painkillers that were offered. When Seto returned, he was impressed with the woman's show of initiative and instantly gave her a commendation and a raise.

With the unpleasantness out of the way, Jonouchi and Seto finally enjoyed a leisurely evening of good food, finding themselves extremely comfortable in each other's company now that they weren't at loggerheads. They talked about many things, finding plenty of common ground as well as a few things that they agreed to disagree about.

As the desserts were cleared away and Jou sat back with a satisfied sigh, Seto began to speak. "So, puppy..."

Jou looked at Seto, his countenance settled into a scowl, "Dammit Kaiba, always with the dog thing..." he started, only to be stopped as the taller teen covered his hand with his own.

"Jou... I didn't mean it in a bad way," he said. "I'm sorry."

Jou looked at Seto with some shock, but didn't pull his hand away. The CEO had actually apologised to him? "So what did you mean by it?" he asked warily.

Seto flushed a little. "It's more of a pet name than an insult," he explained, "but if you don't like it, then I won't use it."

Jou sat and thought about it for a few moments. He could see what Kaiba meant, and it was surely much better than being called mutt and dog. "Eh, I guess it's not so bad," he conceded. "You can call me puppy if you want, but not mutt or other dog names, OK?"

Seto nodded his agreement. "So..." he said with a touch of trepidation, "does this mean that we are together now?" he asked, showing a touch of uncharacteristic vulnerability.

Jou was surprised at Seto's demeanour, but quickly surmised that underneath the ice cold exterior was someone with the same insecurities as every other teenager. "Yeah, that sounds good Kaiba." he said with a smile as he squeezed the other's hand.

"Seto," Kaiba replied. "If we are going to be together, please call me Seto."

"Sure Seto," Jou said with a big grin, then sobered a little. "You can call me Katsuya when we are alone if you really want to, but otherwise I'd prefer you call me Jou... or puppy," he said the last with a blush.

"Come on then," Seto said as he rose from the table, "let's get out of here." Jou got up and followed Kaiba slowly out of the restaurant, nodding at the new Head Waiter as he did so. Seto helped him to the limo, then followed him inside and instructed Isono to drive.
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The Valentine's Card