A silver briefcase clicked onto the countertop.
The man behind the bar had his back turned as he dried the inside of a shot glass, and he only allowed a faint upward twitch of his lips at the sound from behind him. Well well.
The bar was empty except for the two of them as the setting sun slanted through the large windows, turning the oak wood panelling into streaks of orange and gold and rose. Joey Wheeler set the shot glass down and forced himself to put on the best poker face he could manage before he turned around to face the one who was, apparently, waiting for him.
It was immediately obvious that Seto Kaiba in his long white trench coat hadn't changed a goddamn bit, still tall and handsome and managing to look like an iceberg and a smug asshole all at the same time. Those blue eyes still surveyed him calculatingly and that pretty mouth of his still tended towards the sardonic. For a flutter of a half second Joey wondered if...
But Kaiba was leaning forward ever so slightly, and he didn't seem quite able to master his own desire to smirk even though he appeared to be trying his damndest. His hand never left the smooth metallic case sitting on the counter between them, and he nodded as though to show his recognition. Joey just let the moment stretch before he finally let himself grin.
"Haven't seen you 'round here in a while, Kaiba."
"I'm here to make an offer, Wheeler."
"I see," Joey said, nodding exaggeratedly as though he understood completely – and wasn't fooled for a second. His grin widened and his eyes glittered in the last of the light as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall behind him. "That's real nice of you, Kaiba, but this place ain't for sale."
Kaiba closed his eyes for a moment as he finally allowed himself a small smirk and then looked up at Joey with a clear challenge written on his lips.
"Oh, but you haven't heard the price yet, Wheeler. It would be in your best interest to consider this one."
The briefcase was suddenly set down flat and Kaiba's strong, elegant fingers were undoing the locks and the latches. With a very typical flourish he popped open the lid of the case and swung it around so that the case was facing Joey. The perfect rows of freshly minted green bills winked back at him, but Joey just shrugged and held Kaiba's eyes instead of surveying the spread.
"Hm, yeah, not even gonna come close. Sorry you had ta' fly all the way from America for that."
For a second Kaiba let his eyes range over his opponent before his smirk returned with a slight bow of his head, acknowledging a move well played.
"Good thing it's only my opening offer then, don't you think?" When Joey raised a slightly skeptical eyebrow, Kaiba offered a small shrug of his own and looked up at Joey with the same devastating glance he used right before he played the Blue Eyes White Dragon face up. He had stepped forward so that he now pressed against one side of the counter. "You see, Wheeler, I've had to wait a long time for what I want, and this time I don't intend to leave without it."
Joey laughed a little and approached the counter as if drawn forward himself, his answering cheeky grin letting Kaiba know that he had a challenge of his own.
"Big words, Kaiba, but I'm not sure you've really got the balls to back 'em up."
Kaiba leaned slightly forward so that the space between them narrowed and the air crackled ever so slightly.
"I guess we'll just have to see about that, won't we?"
With a slightly dismissive hand wave Kaiba stood straight again and quickly and neatly closed the briefcase so that the millions of dollars that had been on the table instantly vanished like mist in the light of day.
"It looks like I'm going to need somewhere to stay while we continue these business negotiations. Can you make any recommendations?" he asked, and Joey could almost swear he saw a hint of real amusement in Kaiba's eyes.
"Well..." Joey drawled slowly, as though thinking about it with difficulty. "I mean, I usually just offer ta' put up anyone who needs a place ta' stay on my couch, but I've got a feeling you're more used ta' real ritzy places with feather beds an' shit."
"And you would be correct," Kaiba informed him dryly, although this time there was no mistaking the real amusement just barely kept under lock and key. But that was Seto for you, Joey thought wryly. "However," Kaiba continued, "I think you will be surprised by the lengths I'm willing to go to to get what I want."
"The great Seto Kaiba sleepin' on my couch?" Joey's grin lit up the room. "I feel like I can live with that."
It was sunset again, though in the earlier stages of one this time – the horizon still light pinks mingling with the afternoon blue - and Kaiba sat on the couch at the back of the bar watching Joey banter with Tristan about something completely brainless while Tea laughed helplessly from her chair near the juke box. Strains of some French song Kaiba didn't immediately recognize filtered through the warm space and Yugi, so much different and so much the same, stood not too far from Kaiba with a smile on his face as he watched Joey grab a dish towel and whip it at Tristan's head.
"Nothing really changes, does it?"
Kaiba looked up at Moto coolly, as though even after all of this time he still couldn't quite bring himself to be impressed.
"Everything changes. Don't read too much into it just because we're here again."
Yugi met Kaiba's stare with a gleam of confidence that reminded him of someone different (though always and inevitably so similar) and Yugi inclined his head slightly as though he knew exactly what Kaiba was thinking.
"Fine, nothing important then. Get 'em Joey!" he shouted out to his friend who was busy trying to drag his other friend bodily away from the counter. "I think I need another drink," he added to Kaiba before smiling widely and walking away, his feet tapping the beat of the song.
Two beers and a coke later Kaiba watched Joey shoo everyone else out of the bar before turning to him with a hand on his hip and a triumphant expression on his face. His gold-blond hair still fell in his eyes, but there was little boyish left about him these days. Or at least little except for that shit-eating grin.
"Now that that's taken care of..." he laughed a little to himself and walked over to Kaiba and the couch, the sunlight wrapping him up in gold as he moved. With a smile and the shake of his head Joey sank down onto Kaiba's lap, straddling him easily as Kaiba's hands effortlessly found his waist.
When their lips met Kaiba could taste the whiskey Joey had been drinking, and he felt a little drunk himself although he still had a long way to go. The kiss lasted until Joey licked his top lip and leaned back to smile down at Kaiba with a certain wryness and affection.
"It's been two years, asshole. You couldn't have called first?"
"What, worried I'd catch you fucking someone else?"
"Hm, not really. But weren't you?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and then leaned back to snatch another kiss, pulling at Kaiba's bottom lip with his teeth. This elicited a low laugh from the bitten.
"Still a mutt I see." He slid a hand down Joey's thigh and curled his fingers around the inside of it. "It was a possibility I considered," he admitted to Joey in answer to his question. "But I thought I'd put my offer on the table regardless. I'm used to being the highest bidder."
"Uhuh," Joey answered with a laugh. "Course you are, moneybags. Fucker." His hand ran roughly up Kaiba's chest, fingering the top button of his black collared shirt as their breath mingled together between them. "So what, you were just gonna buy out my bar? That was your grand plan?"
Kaiba shrugged lightly, leaning up and in towards Joey so their noses brushed together. "It makes sense. Then there won't be anything tying you here."
With a snorted laugh Joey shook his head. "If you really believe that then you're an even bigger idiot than I always gave ya' credit for."
Unable to help himself, Kaiba let out a quiet snort of derisive laughter.
"I'm the idiot? You own a bar that opens after sundown. How are you still in business?"
Joey shrugged slightly, his grin never faltering and his eyes studying Kaiba's with something like appraisal.
"It kinda turned into gimmick. We do pretty good, especially if ya' remember that ya' once told me I'd be bankrupt in under a week."
Instead of answering Kaiba just leaned up and caught another kiss, this one long and searing and tangled up in all the colours as he pushed his tongue into Joey's mouth. Their bodies were pressed tightly together now, and when they slowly slid over to wind up lying on their sides with their legs tangled together, Joey only started to laugh while Kaiba couldn't repress a smile.
"...shit, I have to open in twenty minutes. Which is too bad, 'cause right now it's pretty easy to remember exactly why I've kept this couch around here for so long."
He gave Kaiba his best 'and you know what I mean' look, eliciting the faintest flush from the man he was semi-on top of. Laughing again Joey kissed him hard until they were both breathless and sun drenched. After it, when Kaiba finally managed to unruffle himself, his voice was unnaturally raspy.
"So sell me the bar, right now. Then there's no need."
"Like hell," Joey laughed. "And what the fuck even, Seto. As I recall you left me to go to America, you pisshead. Two years ago."
"Yet here I am," Kaiba answered lowly, catching and holding Joey's eyes with his trademark bone-breaking intensity. "After all the times we've fucked each other over or left each other behind." If Joey wasn't at least partially accustomed to that look he thought he probably would be more or less insensible right now. As it was he was just warm and turned on and still fucking in love, all of these years later.
"I knew you'd turn up sooner or later," he said. And then, "Oh fuck it. What's one night off, right?"
This time Kaiba laughed too, and he rolled them over so he could pin Joey to the cushions and pull his hands up over his head. He bent down to kiss Joey another time but stopped just short of pressing their lips together, instead preferring to tease gently. When Joey made a clear sound of disgust and impatience, Kaiba glanced up with a smirk.
"Why after sunset? Only an idiot like you would think of something like that, but I'm curious why."
"I told you," Joey murmured raspily with a playful smirk, leaning up towards Kaiba in an attempt to close the space. "I knew you'd be back."
Kaiba just laughed lowly, keeping a whisper's distance between them.
"Idiot. Fine. We know I'm here, so the question, Joseph, is where you are."
Squirming slightly, Joey grimaced before forcing himself to relax back against the couch.
"I'm here too, Set'. But I mean here. This is where I belong. Hell this is where we both belong."
His memory overlaid the last two times he'd watched Kaiba drinking on this couch in this bar as laughter and chatter and goddamn fucking happiness filled up the place around them, until it was part of them too. Kaiba with his shiny black shoes and his crossed legs and his involuntary smile when Tea told a dirtier joke than any of them and had Tristan almost keeling over in horror and laughter.
From somewhere overhead Edith Piaf was singing and the sunshine traced the lines of Joey's face while Kaiba looked down at him and he looked back. After a moment Kaiba sighed quietly and leaned down to brush his lips along Joey's throat as if he could taste enough to make up for the hunger of the last two years.
"Fine. But I did warn you, Wheeler."
He brought his head up and let go of Joey's hands, letting Joey wind them around his waist. He kissed him again then so that both of their breathing became ragged while Joey's hands worked to pull him even closer and their hips rocked against one another.
"Warned me, huh?" Joey managed to mumble.
"Mhm," Kaiba answered, as he slid his hands under Joey's shirt and over the skin waiting for his heated fingers. "I told you last night, pup. I'm not leaving without what I came here for, so you may have to buy a longer couch."
Memories, friendship, sex, sunset and laughter on a worn out couch in the back of a bar swallowed them up until there was nowhere else either of them could be.
(Joey's bar didn't open again for three days and when it did there was another pair of hands drying glasses behind the bar. And in the nights that came after you could rely on finding a pair of particularly sharp blue eyes dancing mirthfully from a couch near the back as Bakura told a story with his hands and everyone gasped and laughed while the sun set slowly over Domino City.)