Chapter 8

Everyone else had finally gone home. Trey had fallen asleep and Jou had had the great joy of carrying his son to bed for the first time ever. Chandra had gone to bed hours earlier.

Jou's mother and Mother Williamson sat on the couch and talked about children and grandchildren like old friends who hadn't spoken since childhood.

Bakura had banished himself to the balcony; not wanting to rush his wife, but still not comfortable with a son-in-law that was at one time his classmate.

Jou wasn't entirely settled with his mother's marriage to a man literally half her age, but she did seem happy with him and Bakura wasn't all bad - when you got to know him.

Sitting alone in his room, Jou's mind quickly turned to seeing Kaiba. His comments, again, had been cutting. Was that part of the "expected behavior"? Rather than dwell on such questions, Jou joined Bakura outside.

The night was warm and clear. Bakura looked forlorn.

"Something up?" Jou asked.

"Nothing real." Bakura sighed.

"Meaning?"

"You know how there's something that you can't change, but you wish you could?" Bakura shrugged. "There's no point in thinking about it. It's a non-issue. But every so often, something gets to me."

"Like?"

"Like watching you with Trey today." He chuckled. "Even listening to her talk about you as a baby." He sighed. "I wish I could change things, but I can't."

"Change what?"

Bakura smiled ruefully. "You're as close to a son as I'm ever going to get." Jou nearly gagged. Bakura and Mom having kids ... ick! "Don't look like that." Bakura rolled his eyes. "Menopause got to your mother before I did. No little Bakuras running around, getting on your nerves."

"I didn't mean that, really."

"That's what you and Ryou both mean. I don't give a fuck. I love your mother. You and Ryou can both kiss my ass."

"Please don't." Mother said from the balcony doorway. "That would make this situation even weirder and more awkward than it already is."

Jou shrugged. "If you're happy, Mom, then I guess I can get used to this a-hole."

They went to Tokyo and Mt. Fuji and Hiroshima. They went to KaibaLand and Disney. Yugi took them to every major dueling arena in the country. Apparently, your father dueling was not cool, but your father's friend the pro duelist was very cool.

Honda took them on a tour of Jou's old high school. Since classes were in session, 'Ma' Williamson got a chance to see what the students were actually studying.

"We have year-round classes here, with a month off between semesters. It's the same amount of classroom time, but I think retention is better from year to year." Honda smiled. "Of course, I grew up here, so I am a bit biased."

"No, I think you're right." Ma nodded. "I wish I could put this one in a year-round school." She pointed at Chandi. "Think it would kill her to open a book over the summer."

"Send her here." Honda offered. "We have a lot of foreign students. We have a dormitory for English-speaking students and an immersion Japanese program to get them up to speed quickly. I'll show you after we're done here. We have the same program at the elementary school level too."

"Granny, can I go there?" Trey asked as if on cue.

Ma glared at Honda. "What did I tell you about asking me that?"

"Trey, stop bugging your grandmother." Jou said. "You're beginning to bug me."

They toured the grounds and the dorms, the cafeteria and the gym. They talked to a few students and a few teachers. A few of them were old enough to remember Jou.

"Always in trouble, hm?" Ma tsked as they left the school. "I guess you two do have a lot in common."

Jou made a pair of 'Katsuya' tapes for Ken. "We get a lot of requests for them, Boss. Gay guys buy them, but straight girls like them too. I figure one for each market. We'll see if the requests die down after that."

The most popular requests were for him to use a toy and for him in a locker room, so they filmed 'Katsuya at the Gym' and 'Katsuya Goes Shopping'. Shopping was really a marketing tool for all the vibs they carried in the store. The last scene on the tape was ten minutes of Jou on the Katlove 3.0.

The whole time they taped, Jou was miserable. Sex - even masturbation - without Seto just served to remind him how lonely he was. Having Trey in his life was great, but Trey didn't fill the empty space in Jou's heart - although he did ease the pain.

But Seto was more. He was an intellectual foil and a sexual addiction. He was every dream at night, every other thought during the day. He was The One.

Why didn't I take that God Damn phone? Jou tried not to ask himself that, but the question kept re-occurring to him.

Still, they sold out of the new titles the day they were released.

"I can't believe it." Yugi said yet again. "Gay?"

"I don't know why we didn't figure it out ourselves." 'Togi laughed. "My God, all the signs were there!"

"But Kaiba?"

"Maybe he didn't know." Honda commented, looking at Jou. "I didn't know until college. Maybe it took him awhile to sort it out."

"Trey! Go back in your room!" Ma Williamson snapped.

"It's boring in there." The boy complained as he dropped onto Jou's couch and opened a drawing pad.

"Boy, don't make me hurt you."

He tsked. "Granny, what? I know Jou gay. Momma been told me that." He didn't even look up from his picture. "All the uncles are."

Trey and Chandra had borrowed from the rest of the kids and called Jou's friends 'Uncle' - Oji Yami, Oji Honda - but they'd stayed away from discussions of sexuality at Ma's Williamson's request.

"I even saw your tape at Oji Yugi's house." Trey went on like he was describing a summer day. "How come you not with that Kaiba guy no more, Jou?"

"What tape?" Ma asked as Yugi yelled, "YAAMII?!"

"Not I." Yami replied, amused.

"What do you mean, you saw it?" Jou asked. "You saw the case?"

"What 'Kaiba' guy?" Otogi put in. "Jou was never with Kaiba."

Trey finally looked up and looked at Jou. "Miho played it for me..."

"I'll kill her." Honda growled.

" ... It had you and that guy from the airport doing freaky stuff..."

"Oh My Lord!" Ma moaned.

"I just asked her what it was like having two queer guys as dads and she showed me." Trey shrugged. "It was kinda gross, so don't do that crap around me."

Mental whiplash, Jou thought. "Hadn't planned to, kid. And I don't know what you saw, but I never did anything with the guy at the airport."

"Well, he was wearing a wig and he was acting all faggy and stuff."

"BB?" Yugi said suddenly. "Oh my god, he's right! BB looks like he could be related to Kaiba! Why didn't I ever notice?"

"BB is NOT related to Kaiba!" Jou snapped. This was not a conversation he wanted to have with anyone, ever. This wasn't even a thought he wanted anyone to have. If it got out that Kaiba'd done a porno...

"Is this the video to which you refer?" Yami asked, as nearly every other adult in the room protested him showing the DVD case to the boy.

"Yeah." Trey nodded.

Yami studied the picture. "It could be a wig. BB's eyes are brown, not blue, and they're smaller than Kaiba's. Was this shot before or after BB got that tattoo?"

"I don't know!" Jou groaned. This was a train wreck. Ma would take Trey back to the US and he'd never get to see the boy again and if news got out that Kaiba had made a porno - especially while Kaiba was going through his second divorce - he'd find Jou and kill him!

"YOU ARE NOT SHOWING THAT FILTH AROUND MY BABIES!" Ma thundered as Yami opened the DVD player.

"Obasama is right." Yugi agreed. "I wouldn't call sex 'filth', but I do know most Americans are a bit sheltered. You three should probably go to the other room for a while."

"Trey already saw it!" Chandra complained. "Why can't I?!"

"Yeah!" Trey pushed to the front of the group. "I already seen it!"

"You said it was gross." Jou pointed out. Trey tsked and rolled his eyes.

Otogi already had the remote and was fast-forwarding past the disclaimers and titles. Ten minutes into the tape, BB was naked, 'Kat-chan's boytoy' clearly visible on his hip. 'Togi paused the tape. "I don't suppose someone has a picture of Moneybags' ass?"

"Yup!" Chandi crowed. "He at that water park last week, and Ma was saying how he might as well not have a swimsuit, small as his was."

Honda found stack of newspapers by the door and began combing through them. "Ah-ha! Damn! He is practically naked!" He brought the picture to the group. "No tat. Good call, Chandi." The way she grinned back, Jou was momentarily concerned that the teen might be developing a crush on the older man.

"Does BB have any scars or blemishes?" 'Togi asked, restarting the tape.

"Nope." Yugi answered before Jou could. They all turned to look at the shorter man. "What? I told you I like sex. I have a JK Video subscription; Jou's tapes are hot."

"We're going to have quite a talk when we get home, beloved one."

"Oooooo!" Chandi pointed to the screen. "That mess is fake!"

"What? Where?"

"Roll it back. There!" 'Togi paused the tape and Chandi tapped BB's hip. "See?"

BB was covered in sweat and semen - and probably more. Katsuya had rubbed much of it over BB and as his hand passed over BB's hip, the tattoo was missing parts of the kanji for 'chan'. Half of 'toy' was gone.

Fuck, Jou thought, that's been sent worldwide.

"Jou... ?"

"It's not him." Jou lied.

"Dude every time you lie, your ears turn pink." Honda crossed his arms and stared at Jou. "You said you knew who BB was. Is he Kaiba?"

"You got the applications for the schools, right?" Jou asked again.

"I'm not necessarily going to fill them out, Jou." Ma frowned. "I said I'd think about it."

"I know, I know. Think. But you have them, right?"

"Lord, the boy has a one track mind!"

"Always has." Mom chuckled. She gave the older woman a hug. "Have a good flight back, Sig. Call me when you get home so I know you made it safely."

"I will." Ma returned the hug. "Say goodbye you two; we are not going to run all up and down this airport, all late."

"Bye." Trey said with a simple wave as Chandi hugged Yugi, Miho and everyone else.

"Hold up, son!" Jou laughed. "You're not getting off that light. Come here!" He hugged the boy tightly and was thrilled when his son returned the affection.

"Do I have to go back?" Trey whispered.

"Yeah." Jou sighed. "But be cool. It's a good school. She really might let you stay next year." Jou pulled away just enough to look the boy in the eye. "You know I love you, right?"

Trey blushed and tried to look away. "Yeah, I guess." Jou knew enough not to ask how Trey felt.

"Here, Trey." Yugi gave him a package. "I thought you should have this. Open it." Inside was a framed card - Red-Eyes, Black Dragon. Written across it was "Friends forever" with Yugi and Jou's signatures. The matte around it read 'BattleCity 2005'. "It used to be your dad's, but I won it off him while he was still on the circuit."

"Whoa!" Trey looked at Jou. "You were at BattleCity?"

"He finished third, as I recall." Yami smiled.

"I didn't know you were a REAL duelist!" Trey looked impressed for the first time. "That's pretty cool."

There was an announcement and they all looked up as the voice said "Neuu Rork". "That's probably you." Mom said. "Remember when you get to the gate to tell them to announce everything in English."

"Don't worry about that one." Ma chuckled. "Come on, you two. Let's get moving. You can e-mail anything else when you get home."

Jou watched and waved until they disappeared into the mass confusion that was security.

The last three months had been heaven. There had been a few awkward, uncomfortable, miserable moments scattered throughout, but overall spending the summer with his son had been the best summer of his life. And, even better, there was a real possibility that Ma would let Trey and Chandi do a year in the study abroad program.

"Ok." Yugi's voice brought Jou back to earth. "Trey's gone. When are you going to see Kaiba?"

"Jeez, Yug! Let the plane take off before you light into him!" Otogi defended. "He just said goodbye."

"And he needs to say hello." Honda countered. "Yug's right this time. When are you going to see him?"

Jou sighed. Ever since the guys figured it out, they'd been hounding him. Kaiba was out now, there was no need to make their prior relationship public. Jou could simply go and talk about the future. Their future. "I'll call tomorrow."

"See him." Yugi insisted. "Today."

"Today." Mom agreed.

"Does it occur to any of you that maybe the reason HE hasn't appeared already is because HE's no longer interested??" Bakura pointed out.

"Does it occur to you that you don't have to rain on every parade in the free world?" Ryou countered.

"Listen, Son..." Bakura put a particularly snide twist on the word.

"Stop!" Serenity stepped between the two. "Not the time or place! Nii-chan, you need to see him - even if you're afraid that Bakura's right. What if the reason he hasn't called you is because he's afraid you don't want to see him?"

The only estates larger then Kaiba Manor belonged to The Emperor and the Prime Minister. The gardens were dazzling. The buildings were either historic, elegant or awe-inspiring - dependent on whether they were older or newer in construction. The house itself was a blend of traditional style and modern needs. It was immense. The walk from the parking lot to the front door was not only lovely, but also educational, as every plant or tree had a plaque with its genus, and the name and age of the child that planted it.

One bush of fragrant purple roses stood out. Jou read the plaque. 'Rosa 'JACsedi' Love Potion Roses, Seto, 17'.

Jou was greeted at the front door by an elderly woman with the style and grace of a geisha in the history books. She led him through a house that looked more like a museum to a small library. There were no windows, just four walls of books, an oak-wood desk, two over-stuffed leather chairs and a matching over-stuffed leather couch.

A few minutes later, a very handsome, formal and elegant man brought in a tray of tea and refreshments. He then performed a proper tea ceremony for Jou.