Finally Able to Tell You How I Feel (Joey one-shot)
Something I wrote for a friend of mine. If I ever get around to writing it, there will be a kind of sequel.
She was the devil's mind with an angel's face, and Joey was intoxicated with the girl named Emiri at first sight. The two became best friends after she rigged Kaiba's computer to blow up in his face. That had been a fun day, even if they'd had to run from a very pissed Kaiba who'd wanted to send both strays to the pound. Joey though, never got the guts to officially ask Emiri out. Time went on. Emiri, with her technological skill, got a job at Kaiba corp. and managed to pull a few strings and hire Joey as her assistant. Kaiba was away on a trip during this and, needless to say, wasn't happy to find both stray dogs working in his company when he returned. Our story begins on a warm summer day when our two young pups had a little too much free time on their hands.
"1…"
"2…"
"3…"
"WHEELER! HINARI!" Seto Kaiba bellowed as he barreled out of a room, waving smoke away from his face. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY COMPUTER?"
Emiri and Joey turned to each other grinning from ear to ear. Not an hour before, the two had rewired their employer's computer in a way that it would blow up as soon as he pressed a button.
Coughing, Kaiba finally freed himself of the cloud of smoke pouring out of the room. When he looked up and saw the mutt and stray pup standing there smirking, he marched over to his employees, anger boiling at an all new high.
"Hey, rich boy, looks like somethin' blew up in your face," Joey taunted smugly.
Kaiba grabbed the blonde by the collar, jerking him forward so their faces were dangerously close. "What did you two strays do to my computer?" he growled.
Joey gulped. Though normally he'd have some to say about being called a dog, the fact that his employer's nose was less than an inch from his own was making slightly uneasy. Emiri, though, had to clamp down on an angry response and force herself to relax, as she casually circled around Kaiba.
"Oh, you know, the usual. Reconfiguring a few wires to make it blow up when you press a button," she smirked.
Kaiba loosened his grip on Joey's collar as he turned to face the golden-brunette girl. "Do you have any idea how much money you just cost me?"
"Couple thousand?" Joey guessed, cocky attitude returning now that Kaiba's attention had shifted.
"Closer to a couple million!" Kaiba spat. "I had important data on there!"
"Oh, sure hope none of it was irreplaceable," Emiri sympathized, sarcasm dipping from every word.
Kaiba's hand started to tighten around Joey's collar. Worried maybe things were going too far, the blonde tried to signal this to his friend. It didn't matter much, though; Emiri'd already said what she was going to say.
"If you mutts are done with your work, then get out of my sight!" Kaiba growled, finally releasing Joey and storming back to his destroyed computer.
Both Joey and Emiri took off down the hall, and once they were a safe distance away, turned a yelled, "AND WE'RE NOT DOGS!" That was their trademark after every prank, since Kaiba would always call them dogs at least once.
You might be wondering why Kaiba hasn't fired the "dogs" yet. Simple: Emiri – pain in the ass as she may be – was a very valuable technician the company couldn't really afford to lose. And if he fired Joey, Emiri would quit. Kaiba hated to admit it, but the mutts had outsmarted him this time.
"Come on, Joey. We're done with our work so why don't we head down to the park?" Emiri suggested as the two friends walked down the hall. "I got my deck," she added with a grin, pulling out her dueling deck.
Joey grinned, but it disappeared quickly as he remembered the pile of paperwork sitting on his desk. "Actually, Em, I still have a stack of papers to sort through," he admitted. "So I'll have to meet up with you later."
"Oh, ok." Emiri couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice. "Later, then."
The two friends waved and went their separate ways down the hall; Joey giving the room Kaiba still occupied a wide berth. Entering another room, he grimaced at the nearly two foot tall stack papers on the desk. In truth, sorting the papers and figuring out which papers went to whom in the company was a daily job; but over the last week, Joey had skipped out on paperwork to help Emiri fix and perfect a malfunctioning virtual game. Unfortunately, this week had also been a week where a lot of ideas and plans for new games and upgrades had been circulating, adding to the normal amount of papers that would have piled up anyway. Kaiba would skin Joey alive if he skipped another day; all of the plans had to go through him and some needed to be looked at ASAP.
With a heavy sigh, Joey sat down at the desk and began the tedious task. "Rich boy just had to give me the most boring job in this place," he grumbled. Of course, Joey was pretty hopeless with technology if he didn't have Emiri coaching him. Number one reason he had a desk job.
An hour and 20 minutes later, Joey sat back in the chair and looked at the organized stacks of paper, wondering if he could wait until tomorrow to deliver them. No, Kaiba'd probably blow a fuse; better to deliver them today. Sighing again, Joey put the separate stacks into folders marked for who they went to. Kaiba's folder was especially bulky and Joey wasn't looking forward to delivering it, but might as well get it over with. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he pushed open the door to his employer's office.
"Your, uh, papers," Joey mumbled, holing up the folder before setting it on Kaiba's desk.
Kaiba glanced up at his employee with cold eyes; not at all please with the bulging folder or the fact that his employee's slacking off had caused him more work. "Next time, try to stay on top of your paperwork," he said coolly, turning his attention back to the temporary-use computer in front of him.
Well, that could've been worse, Joey thought with relief as he turned for the door. Kaiba didn't even call me a 'mutt.'
Back at his own office, Joey was pleasantly surprised to see his other best friend, Yugi, sitting on the desk. "Oh, hey, Yug. What are you doing here?" Joey asked, picking up more of the folders.
"I just came to see how you were doing," Yugi grinned. "I saw Emiri at the park, but she said you were still working."
"Yeah, stupid paperwork," Joey grumbled under his breath.
With a laugh, Yugi hopped off the desk. "Want some help delivering these?" he asked, picking up a few of the folders.
"'Course, Yug! Anything to get out of here faster!" Joey eagerly agreed.
Laughing, the two friends set off down the hall.
"So have you told her yet?" Yugi asked.
"Told who—?" Joey started to ask before realizing what his friend meant. "Come on, Yugi! Not this again!" he protested.
"Joey! You've had a crush on Emiri since high school and never once asked her out!"
"But— I don't know, Yug. Em and I are really good friends, and what if she doesn't like me that way, or what if it wreaks our friendship, or—"
"Joey, now you're just making excuses," Yugi cut in with a sigh.
"But—!" Joey had talked himself into a corner and he knew it. He stopped walking and averted his eyes to the ground, hugging the folder to his chest insecurely. There was only one way out of this conversation, so Joey took a deep breath and put himself out on a limb. "Actually, Yugi…I've known Em so long now that there really isn't much point in asked her out," he mumbled, his face rapidly turning red.
"Oh," Yugi said quietly, understanding what his friend was implying. He couldn't really say he'd been expecting that. "Well, you could still ask her that."
Joey's head snapped up, glaring at Yugi with a face about 10 different shades of red.
"Or…not," Yugi added with a forced grin and a sweatdrop.
Joey took another deep breath and started down the hall again. "Let's just deliver these papers and go see if Em's still waiting."
Yugi nodded.
20 minutes later, Joey was sprinting for the park. Part of him didn't really think Emiri would still be there, but another part was hoping beyond hope that she was. He wanted to ask before his resolve vanished. To his luck, he found Emiri sitting in a tree, twirling a leaf between her fingers. That was Emiri for you: one of the best technical minds at Kaiba corp. and yet amused by a leaf.
"Hey, Emiri!" Joey called up at her.
Blinking, Emiri looked away from her leaf and saw Joey standing beneath her. Immediately, a smile broke out on her face. "Joey! You made it!" she exclaimed, jumping down from the tree and landing with practiced ease.
"'Course I did," Joey grinned smugly as Emiri gave him a quick hug. "But only you could stare at leaf for a couple hours," he added.
"I wasn't up there the whole time!" Emiri protested. "First I sitting by the fountain, then I was challenged to a duel – which I won – then I climbed the tree."
Joey laughed, but then quickly shook his head. This wasn't a time to be playing around; he had to be serious. "Eh, Emiri…" he asked nervously.
"Yeah?" Emiri asked, looking at him with curious storm colored eyes.
"Well, uh…" Joey fumbled with his words, twisting his figures together nervously. "I don't got a ring or nuthin' but…"
'Ring'? Emiri wondered. What was Joey talking about?
Joey's resolve was crumbling fast. He had to ask now! "Nggh! Will you marry me?" The proposal came out a bit louder than he'd meant, and everybody within 10 feet stopped to stare, which included an old lady walking her dog and several kids who'd been playing Frisbee.
Emiri stared at Joey for a minute. That hadn't been what she'd been expecting. But she couldn't really see herself spending her life with anyone else; after all, she'd had a crush on him since high school.
"Sure. I love to spend my life with you," Emiri finally replied with a smile.
Previously, Joey's eye had been squeezed shut in anticipation. Now they popped open to stare at Emiri. "Really?" he asked, not sure if this was a dream or reality.
"Really," Emiri confirmed.
Two things happened in the next instant. One, Joey hugged Emiri so tightly it knocked the breath out of her; and two, he finally kissed the only girl he'd ever love. Unfortunately, since Emiri's breath had been knocked out of her, the need for air ended the kiss as abruptly as it started. But that was definitely a moment that would last in her mind for the next 100 years and not fade.
"Keep that up, and this could be really interesting," Emiri grinned.
Someone whistled. Both Joey and Emiri jumped, becoming aware of their audience.
"Ah, scram, ya bunch o' rascals!" Joey yelled at the kids, who ran off laughing. He thought better of yelling at the old lady though. "Why don't we go tell the others?" he asked his new fiancé.
"Sure, but not Téa, not yet. I don't want to listen to another of her speeches," Emiri said.
"Okay," Joey laughed, and wrapped his arm around Emiri's shoulders.
Review please!