FicWad

Seto closed the door to the car and watched silently as it drove off. He had been sure to make clear that he would not be needing the man's services the remainder of the night, it would be redundant to have spent the money he just had on non-descript clothes in order to blend in if he allowed himself to be driven to his next destination. He turned away from the street and noted his location before shoving his hands in his pockets, moving down the sidewalk, just another teenager walking the streets this evening.

It felt a little strange, yet slightly liberating to be dressed down as he was, in a simple black wool sweater and black jeans, with no chance of being bothered by late business or anything else of the sort. He had left everything he usually carried at home after coming up with his plans for the night.

He had judged about how much money he would need and taken only that amount with him when he had gone shopping earlier in the evening and purchased the clothing he was currently wearing. After paying for those purchases, he found it depleted almost all of his funds.

Seto had decided against returning back to either office or the house to retrieve more money though, he could do without anything else tonight. 'Besides.. if I went back, I might not have the willpower to leave again' and it was against his nature to waste his money on clothing he didn't need so there was really no point in going back. The wind picked up as he turned a corner, chilling his face and neck as it whipped around him, blinding him with his own bangs for a moment. He paused, lifting a hand to brush his hair from his face and froze as he noted the reason he had ventured out on this little trip five feet in front of him, facing away from Seto.

Seto lowered his hand, shoving it back into the coat pocket as he stood there watching the blond. Jounouchi was dressed in a green jacket that Seto was sure didn't do a thing to keep the cold out, the jeans looked a little ragged as well, his mind noted as he watched the other boy rub his hands together to warm them. 'He should be home..' he thought moving to lean against the shadowed wall of the building he had been standing beside. He didn't want Jounouchi to see him, despite the clothing; Seto knew he would be recognized immediately and that would ruin his carefully laid plan for the night most likely also resulting in yet another argument, resulting in each of them going their separate ways...again.

He knew why the other wasn't home though, or at one of his friends houses. He wouldn't have chosen to stay either in Jounouchi's place, or accepted the charity and pity of the others in the group, it was more than pride he mused, but others most likely wouldn't understand. Which was why he was currently leaning against the cold wall of a building in the dead of night watching the blond teen. If he couldn't act on his behalf visibly, then he'd decided to settle on watching him silently and acting invisibly in his favor. Jounouchi finally decided to move on he noted as the blond turned his gaze from the sky to the street before him, turning away from it to walk down the sidewalk, arms wrapped tightly against his chest.

Seto watched the blond pause at the inky black mouth of an alley between two buildings and glance around before disappearing into it. The action confirmed what he had assumed earlier and he waited silently outside the alley, barely able to make out the lanky form dropping down in the corner of the alley's end, curling up against the one of the walls.

One wouldn't think that watching someone could render physical pain, but it *hurt* watching the scene before him and not being able to do a damn thing about it, just watching as the younger man pulled the green jacket tighter around his lean frame before dropping off to sleep.

Seto stepped silently into the alley when he noted the breathing of the teen fall into a steady rhythm avoiding contact with anything that might alert the blond to his presence. Sighing faintly, Seto frowned as Jou made a distressed noise in his sleep, face troubled from where it was resting against one green clad shoulder. At least he could let him be warm, even if he couldn't soothe the troubled sleep, besides it would only lead to greater trouble if the other teen *did* wake up and find Seto here in front of him.

He slid out of the leather coat and laid it out over the blond, covering as much of Jounouchi with it as was possible. 'At least I found one thing I can do without causing him trouble..' he mused as he watched Jou shift slightly beneath it, one arm uncurling from his chest to grasp the edge of the coat like a blanket, pulling it closer around him, murmuring faintly in his sleep.

Seto watched him for a moment longer before turning away, walking out of the alley and towards the street, glancing at his surroundings before noting the dimly lit windows of what he took to be a all hours coffee shop. He didn't have any money, but that didn't mean he couldn't sit inside it and watch the alley until morning.

Pushing the worn door open, he ignored the small jingle overhead and moved towards one of the empty booths next to the small window in the front. He saw the clerk look up at him briefly before dismissing him when he showed no signs of ordering anything. The window could have done with some cleaning, but he could see the alley well enough despite that, which was all that mattered at the moment.

Seto had pulled enough all nighters working that he was still awake when the sun began its ascent into the sky, revealing the truth of his surroundings, inside and outside. Blue eyes never moved from the dark mouth of the alley though until he noted the blond head he was watching for appear, Jounouchi was holding the coat in one hand, golden brown eyes looking everywhere it seemed for some sign of who had given it to him. If it hadn't hurt so much to see the other's shock that someone would do such a thing, it would have been amusing.

He watched Jou as the blond finally slid into the coat, the leather almost, but not quite swallowing the smaller teen in its brown folds. Jounouchi pulled it close, turning decisively as if he had thought of something important and walked down the sidewalk, eyes taking in everything as if looking for someone or something. Seto stood and moved towards the doorway, not bothering to say anything to the clerk behind the counter as he opened the door and stepped outside, eyes following the other as the blond continued up the street searching most likely for any clue as to the owner of the coat.

It was a few blocks later in a slightly nicer neighborhood that he noted the distressed look had advanced to something other than the lack of knowledge as to his benefactor. The smell was what gave him the answer as to what could be the cause of this new distress. A restaurant was opening for breakfast business and the smell of the food teased anyone who was near it with what lay inside its doors.

He watched from afar as one hand left the leather coat's pocket to search the pockets of the green jacket and jeans before giving up and giving the restaurant an annoyed glance before turning away from it and continuing on.

Of course, even had he wanted to reveal himself, it would have done little good, Seto thought to himself as he also passed the restaurant by, he'd spent the money he'd brought with him on the clothes and had nothing left on him to buy even a cup of coffee with.

Sighing he shook his head and wondered how far Jou would go in his search for answers and if the boy had any plans for the Sunday morning. An hour later he wanted to curse at something, or someone.. how could watching someone hurt so damn much? The other boy didn't even know he was following him, but it felt as if he'd been struck in the chest every time he saw that hungry look when the smells of the cafe's and other vendors crossed their paths. He knew why the other didn't stop to ask for anything even though he was sure that a few of the vendors would have given a little something to him, had he asked them nicely enough for it. It was the same reason he had chose not to seek out his friends. 'Damn Pride..' he sighed softly, hands in his pockets. This was getting pointless now he thought silently to himself. 'So.. why are you still following him?' Seto ignored the question; he didn't really know the answer himself.

Or rather he did, he just didn't want to acknowledge it. It was crazy to even consider it, so he denied it and buried it beneath cold logic and hateful words. He wasn't going to set himself up to be hurt again after all, he'd had quite enough of that this past year to even consider even courting that possibly. Case in point, if he told Jou's friend's what he had observed, he'd be either called a liar or worse, because once confronted, Jounouchi would deny it so he didn't have to deal with it. Which was just one more way they were similar. He didn't care for anyone getting into his personal business either. 'Pride again actually.. and the fact we both hide our actual emotions from those around us..'

The blond just went the other direction than he did, while Seto had chosen to use the lack of emotion, Jounouchi had to go the other route and use cheerfulness or anger to cover up his own. He shook his head. 'I shouldn't even be interested in the mutt, if anyone, I should be giving all this attention to Yugi or even that quiet white haired friend of theirs.' The world was crazy if it thought that two people so much alike, yet different could ever produce anything but misery.

He returned his full attention to the reason he was still out here, watching him silently, at least the idiot had stopped his wandering. Jounouchi had dropped down onto a bench a couple feet away, slumping back into it with a confused look on his face. 'Wondering who in their right minds would bother with helping him, no doubt..' The kicker to that was it was him who had helped other boy, did this mean he wasn't in his right mind...probably. He felt his lips twist into a sardonic smile and he moved to lean back against the wall of the building he was standing in front of. He could hear a music coming from the inside speaker system, muffled, but still loud enough to make out some of the lyrics.

You're not the easiest person I ever got to know
And it's hard for us both to let our feelings show.

Now wasn't that just cute, he rolled his eyes heavenward briefly as if to ask something above, the gods perhaps, if they were having a good chuckle at his and Jounouchi's expense. Sighing faintly, he let his eyes fall back down to the sulking blonde on the bench as his ears caught the last part of the verse.

But if there's one guy, just one guy
Who'd lay down his life for you and die,
I hate to say it, I hate to say it, but it's probably me.

He mused over those last few lines and hated the conclusion they brought. He was not going to admit, even to his younger brother, that given the choice; He, Kaiba Seto would throw everything away, including his life, in order to protect the blond mutt. 'Now if that isn't proof I'm crazy I don't know what more would be needed.'

He frowned quietly when he noted two young men were now standing in front of the bench and questioning Jounouchi why he was out here. He walked silently closer, noting as he did the clothes the two were wearing. 'Lovely, he would have to attract their attention.' He sighed and weighed his options silently, still a good foot away from the bench. One, the police officers could take Jou in for loitering in front of the shop they were at, they might even assume he stole the coat he wore, since his other clothes were so ragged.

Or two, he could step in and use his influence to extradite the puppy out of trouble. Which would no doubt reveal that he'd been the one who gave him the coat and had been following him the whole time.. he'd most likely get his head bitten off after the cops left, but at least Jounouchi wouldn't be arrested or falsely accused of theft. Besides it was the more...honorable thing to do. 'Riiight, Seto.. just keep telling yourself that, you might even convince yourself its true...in a few years time.'

He closed the distance between himself and the officer's, reaching out to the one on the right to tap his shoulder. "Excuse me.." he murmured softly. They turned the one on the left giving him a dark look that clearly stated how much the older man thought of the young man in front of him. "He was waiting on me to return.." he stated, arms crossed over his chest.

He didn't look at Jounouchi as he spoke, but he could see the startled shock out of the corner of his eye. He wondered what was going through the blonde's head at the moment, was he glad to see him or was he going to snarl at him once the other two left.