Melting in the Sun
"Are you an android or something?" Jou asked as he sat beneath a tree on the grass at lunch, with none other than his worst, most nasty, scary and most of all sexy rival, Seto Kaiba.
"That," Kaiba muttered, "has to be one of the most idiotic things you've ever asked me." He really had no idea why he was sitting with that mutt. Well, actually he did. This was his spot, and he was too stubborn to go sit somewhere else when Jou had sat down next to him. He would have started a fight or something, but it was one of those hot, summer days when everything seemed like too much effort. So the two of them were just sitting there, almost having a normal conversation for once.
"No it isn't, you act like a damn robot or something." Jou defended, chewing on a blade of grass. Kaiba though it made him look like a farmer's son who should have been lying in a corn field wearing a tattered straw hat or something. That was a disturbingly pleasant image.
"No I don't." He would have tacked 'you stupid dog' on to the end of that sentence, but he was enjoying their little rapport too much, and besides, it was too hot to fight. He wondered vaguely if Jou would ever get hot enough to take off his shirt.
"So you're claiming to be human." Jou snorted, laying back in the grass and crossing his legs at the ankles, his head resting on his folded arms and the blade of grass between his lips. Nice lips, Kaiba thought.
"I am human. What makes you think I'm not?" He asked, frowning a little. The frown was really obligatory; he frowned a lot. Jou was past being fazed by any of Kaiba's scary looks, though. He even had them all categorized. There were glares, scowls, frowns... He wondered if Kaiba practiced. Nah, it was probably a natural talent in his case. Jou himself wasn't good at frowning. He liked smiling, grinning, laughing...
"You act like a computer." Jou waved a hand a little because he didn't quite know how to explain what he was trying to say. Not that it really mattered. Damn, it was hot today.
"No I don't." Kaiba said again, leaning his back against the tree trunk and looking down at Jou, who was lying in the grass beside him.
"Fine, prove it." Jou challenged. A small challenge, nothing that involved getting up. It was still too hot for anything physical. That bought to mind some pleasant images, though.
"How?" Kaiba asked, watching Yugi chase Mokuba around the yard from across the field. How those two could run in this heat was beyond him.
"I don't know," Jou shrugged, "tell me what your favourite food is, and what you do for fun, and what music you like." He suggested. Getting to know Seto Kaiba. Now there was an interesting concept.
Kaiba was silent for a moment, wondering if he should ask why Jou wanted him to prove anything at all. But then, it was very hot, and reading too much into anything was becoming a struggle. Cold facades melt in high temperatures, he though.
"I like vanilla ice cream." He finally said. Vanilla. Not too sweet, just right. Ice cream would be great right about now.
"Me too. I like strawberry." Jou mentioned. They were having a civil conversation, oddly enough. It wasn't so bad. He wasn't even forcing himself to do it, either. The thought of mean old Seto Kaiba eating vanilla ice cream in the kitchen at some ungodly hour of the morning when he couldn't sleep, in his Blue-Eyes pyjamas popped into Jou's mind. That was cute, he decided to save that image and appreciate it more later. Of course, Kaiba's eyes would have to be sleepy-looking, and his hair would have to be a little ruffled... there, that was perfect.
"I like to walk around the garden at night." Kaiba said, watching Mokuba, Ryou and Yugi attack Bakura and tickle him until he fell to the ground, cackling.
Jou thought about Kaiba walking around in his huge garden under the summer moonlight. He looks good in silver, Jou thought vaguely.
"I like climbing trees." Jou grinned. Kaiba thought that was a very Jounouchi thing to like doing. It suited him.
"I like classical music." Kaiba murmured, his eyes half-lidded as he looked out across the field. Jou had already guessed that one. He could imagine Kaiba in his office, typing away with some classical music floating out of a CD player across the room. It fit his personality.
"I like rock. And heavy metal." Jou told the brunette, and Kaiba smirked, though without a hint of coldness to it. It was too hot, it would have melted anyway.
Jou liking rock music was inevitable. Kaiba wondered what Jou would look like playing a guitar. In a band, maybe. He wondered if Jou could sing.
"I hate peanut butter." Kaiba decided to continue the conversation. It was nice to talk to someone other than Mokuba. It was nice to talk about simple little things that didn't really matter, but made up parts of him anyway. He knew what Jou meant, about being a robot. He never told anyone little things he liked, little things he disliked. Unimportant things that made him human. It was satisfying to have someone listen to things he said that didn't matter. Perhaps having a pointless conversation once in a while was a good thing.
Jou tried to think of something he hated. Nothing big, because that was off-limits for this conversation. They were neutral right now. No hating Pegasus, or being called a dog, or evil guys trying to take over the world. Just little things. Things that weren't important on any grand scale. Things they had no reason to argue about.
"I hate waiting in lines at theme parks." Jou finally said. He'd once waited two whole hours for a ride. It wasn't worth it in the end.
Kaiba agreed. Also, Jou didn't seem like the type of person who had much patience when it came to waiting for things. He could see Jou jumping up and down in a line, getting annoyed. Jou was cute when he was annoyed. His eyes sparkled gold.
"I like the rain."
"I like the sun." Jou grinned, countering Kaiba's comment. Rain suited Kaiba. Rain was ok, if it was light and he could run in it. Sun was better. It dried up the rain, and made everything look brighter. It made Kaiba talk to him. Of course, it hadn't made him smile yet, but Jou decided he could work on that himself.
The End