Me: Hello everyone! Welcome to my newest story! I actually meant to have this out by January 25th (Joey's birthday) but I couldn't. Sorry! So instead I'm dedicating it to my friend tanteichan. Look her up!

Lightning: Yes, sorry for the delay but she is Brooke.

Me: You shut it. Anyways without further ado, onto the story!

Lightning: She doesn't own YuGiOh or its characters, just this fanfic.

0

It was 8 in the morning and it was a beautiful day outside. The sky was a vibrant blue with tiny wisps of clouds floating through it. It was hot, almost 85 degrees, and the weather forecast had only predicted it would get hotter, and that's why a group of eight teens were found sitting around the house making plans for a day at the beach.

Yugi, Yami, Marik, Malik, Bakura, Ryou, Tristan and I were all sitting on the floor of Yugi's living room, arguing about who to bring along on the trip. "I'd like to bring Duke along."

"But Tristan, that pretty boy's got it out for me." I heard Yugi sigh next to me. I couldn't blame him either. Tristan and I had been fighting for over ten minutes about weather or not we should invite Duke along, and while it's not anywhere near our longest fight ever, it was still a long time to put up with two people fighting.

"But Joey, Duke doesn't go out enough anymore because he's always working. He's so stressed lately and it upsets me to see him so tired. This'll be a good chance for him to relax and take a break." Tristan looked upset and I knew I should probably drop it and let Duke come along, but I couldn't just give up without a fight, it would ruin my tough guy image.

"Yeah, well Kaiba works all the time and you don't see me inviting him along, do ya?" I felt Yugi shift beside me and give a sort of small squeak. I looked over at him and saw that he had a really nervous look on his face. "What is it Yug? What's wrong?" He looked down at the floor and said something I couldn't understand. "Whad'ya say? I couldn't understand you."

"Well I sorta, kinda invited Seto and Mokuba along with us." He WHAT?

"YOU WHAT?!" I jumped up and glared down at him. "Why on god's green friggin earth would you do that? You know he hates us, hates ME, with a passion. He's worse to me than Duke, and that's sayin somethin. So why, the hell, would you invite him along?"

"W..well, I was making breakfast earlier and Mokuba called and asked if I wanted to come and try out this new video game they'd made. I told him we were already making plans to go to the beach and he sounded so disappointed that I just had to invite him along. Then he asked if Seto could come and I just couldn't say no to him Joey."

Yugi looked like he was about to cry, and Yami was giving me a look fit to rival Kaiba's glare so, with the most dramatic sigh I could muster, I flopped back down onto the floor. "Fine. Whatever. He can come, but I'm sure as hell not riding in the same car as him. And I'm not sitting next to Duke either."

Yugi let out a relieved sigh and Tristan looked like a little kid on Christmas. I couldn't help but smile. How could I not, when my friends were as easily pleased as tiny children. That thought made me laugh. Yugi and Tristan laughed too, though I doubt they knew why. Even Ryou and Malik joined in. Yami, Bakura and Marik just kinda sat there looking at each other, not knowing what to do. It just made the rest of us laugh harder, until Yami joined in, then Bakura and finally Marik, until all of us were on the floor laughing. I thought to myself maybe, just maybe, this trip won't be so bad after all.

0

"Oh. Hell. No! I told you guys earlier, I'm not riding in the same car as him, let alone HIS car." I was fuming, no sorry, pissed was more like it. Kaiba and Mokuba had shown up shortly after we had all finished laughing and my mood had instantly turned sour. It wasn't the fact that Kaiba was there; it was the look of indifference that went along with his undermining tone.

The first thing he said to me was "Well mutt, looks like you haven't changed" God he was infuriating.

"Neither have you, rich boy." It's at this point that we started fighting. I mean seriously come on, we all saw it coming. However the fight didn't last long because Yami stepped in between us and gave me a very, very, stern look, then nodded in Yugi's direction. Apparently he hadn't heard us yet, and from the looks of things he wanted to keep it that way.

I glared one last time at Kaiba before I went to help load up the cars. Turns out we had a lot more stuff to take with us then I thought. By the time we were done loading up, both Kaiba's and Yugi's trunks were stuffed full.

Yugi placed a closed sign in the window of the shop and then locked up, because his grandpa was away visiting as old friend in Egypt. Now the only thing left to do was decide who was riding with who.

Yami and Yugi automatically got the same car since they both owned it and were *ahem* lovebirds. Marik and Malik were riding Malik's motorcycle, so Ryou and Bakura called the backseats of Yugi's car.

I wasn't too worried about who I was riding with. I figured I would just ride with Tristan in his car, maybe crank up some tunes and talk about hot babes. Well, I would talk about hot babes. Tristan would probably think about Duke the whole ride over, but you know, that wouldn't be so bad I guess. All in all the trip was starting to look like it would be okay, even with Kaiba there.

That is, until Tristan informed me he would be riding with Duke and leaving his car at the shop. This all but deflated my happy mood. With Tristan going with Duke, and the other car full, that left only one option. Kaiba's car. Which of course leads us back to the current situation.

"I told you Yugi. I refuse to ride in the same car as that egotistical jerk!"

"Oh, that's a big word for you mutt. Someone's been doing there homework." Kaiba smirked a little as my face started to go red.

"Just you wait, rich boy. One of these days I'm gonna hit you so hard your grandchildren will feel it."

"Empty threats, Wheeler. You've really lost your touch."

I was about to yell something about my touch being perfectly intact, when I glanced over at Yugi. He looked like he was about to cry again. I sighed and looked away. The things I do for my friends. "Whatever Kaiba. Let's just go. I wanna get this over with."

I started walking towards his car, well limo actually. I guess my response must have surprised him because I was almost to the limo before he responded with "Whatever you say, mutt." I couldn't tell because he was behind me, but it sounded like he was smirking. He caught up to me with ease and opened the limo door, gesturing me inside with mock politeness.

"After you, mutt. Oh, and try not to get your dirty paws all over my seats." That smirk again. God he irritated me.

0

So here we are, in the backseat of Kaibas' limo, driving towards the beach, when all of a sudden the limo takes a sudden left. I look out the window and see a bunch of houses, all of them huge, looking like mini mansions. Apparently I looked confused because Mokuba suddenly chimed in.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that we have a little errand to run. We're going to pick up my friend Noah. I invited him along with us because he's never been to the beach before." He turned his attention to Kaiba, a playful look in his eyes. "Just like big brother. He's never been to the beach either."

I guess the shock showed on my face because Kaiba stopped typing long enough to glare at me. "Kaiba you've never been to the beach?"

"No. Unlike you and your little geek squad, I don't have time to be prancing around in the sand like a child. I run a multi-billion dollar company. CEO's like me don't play in the sand like pre-schoolers."

I knew he wasn't happy about coming along, but that didn't mean he had to be a jackass about it. Still, I almost felt sorry for him. I mean, never doing anything fun, that had to be rough on him. However Kaiba seemed to have other ideas when he spotted the almost pitying look on my face. "Oh don't feel bad for me, mutt. Running my company has far more benefits than going to some over-crowded beach.

Yep. Almost felt sorry for him I shot him another glare and turned to look out the window again. The houses were bigger now, with more space in between. The limo started slowing down and suddenly Mokuba pointed out the window at a three-story house. "That's it. That's where Noah lives!" He was practically bouncing in his seat as we pulled up the drive-way.

I smiled to myself as he jumped out the door before the limo even stopped. I swear he got to that front door faster than an Olympic sprinter could dash the hundred meter. Unfortunately now that Mokuba wasn't in the car, the atmosphere felt more…pressing. I was so focused on the whole it's-weird-to-be-alone-in-the-car-with-Kaiba thing that I didn't notice that said person had stopped writing until I finally realized the sound of typing was missing.

I looked up to see what had actually proved interesting, or annoying, enough to distract the ever vain Kaiba from his work. Of course, that's when I caught him staring at me. Those ice blue orbs were traveling the length of my body, holding some unknown emotion inside.

His gaze traveled back up to my eyes and noticed me looking at him. I blushed and looked away. O.K-. this was weird. I never blushed. EVER. And if I did, it sure as hell wouldn't be around Kaiba. So why the hell was his stare making me blush.

Fortunately, I was saved from further speculation by the return of Mokuba and his friend Noah. Noah was about the same height as Mokuba, with a figure that could only be described as petite. He had cyan colored hair and bright blue eyes. But something seemed a little off about him. His skin was pale, and when his hand accidentally brushed mine getting into the limo, it felt cold, ice cold.

However he seemed so happy to be with Mokuba that I just kinda forgot about it in favor of silently laughing as Mokuba launched into a thousand words a minute talk about a new video game that had come out just yesterday. Noah smiled and laughed right along with him the whole time.

It was almost like Kaiba and I didn't exist. I indiscreetly glanced over at him to see how he was taking all of this, and was shocked to see a small smile playing on lips. Kaiba, smiling. Geez, this car ride just got weirder and weirder. I swear I was encountering more weird things around Kaiba then I ever did with Yugi and the gang.

I turned my thoughts back to Mokuba when I heard him mention my name. "Oh yeah. Noah this is Joey. He's a friend of mine." I smiled and held out my hand to Noah. He took it and smiled back. "Hello Joey. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet ya too." I had to say. That was probably the most civil conversation I'd had for the past hour. And I had to admit, the boy had manners. Better then someone's at least *cough cough*

My attention strayed back to the world outside the window as Mokuba launched into another topic, and was surprised to see that we were already back on the highway. Had I really spent that much time thinking? God, I'd better be more careful or I'd turn into another Ryou. Not that being a thinker was bad; it just wasn't my thing. I was the tough guy, the one who fought the bullies with force. I was the one who would jump into a fight to help a stranger, even if I wasn't asked to, or got no thanks afterwards. I wasn't smart like Duke or Yami, wasn't innocent and compassionate like Yugi and Ryou, or even Malik. I wasn't a criminal mastermind like Bakura and Marik (ok that was a little exaggerated), and I was most certainly nowhere near as rich as Kaiba.

Speaking of which…. I snuck a quick peek at the teen CEO again, just to see what the endless flow of chatter was doing to him, but of course I picked the one moment when he was staring at me to look, and this time the emotion in his eyes was intensified.

Great. Just Fan-fucking-tastic. Kaiba was staring at me with an odd look. That could only mean one thing. Something bad was going to go down, and like normal when it involved Kaiba, I would be at the center of it.

I sighed and moved my eyes back out the window. This was going to be the longest car ride of my life.

0

Me: So ta-dah. My beautiful first ever totally centered on puppyshipping story. I'm actually quite pleased with the way this came out. What'd you think Lightning? ….. Lightning?

Lightning: Thank you Jesus! I thought I was gonna die.

Me: Oh come on, it wasn't that bad. For all of those who don't know, Lightning isn't a huge fan of the whole typing process. He says it takes too long and he get's anxious and twitchy and wants to get out but I make him sit there like a good Yami until I'm done typing.

Lightning: *raiding the fridge* Yes, it gets very boring very quickly. Hey! Thin mints!

Me: Oh uh-uh. Get your goddamn hands off my thin mints bitch!

*Lightning takes the box and runs*

Me: Well Ima go reclaim my thin mints and beat some sense into my Yami. R&R and all that crap. Until next time, this is SDM-

Lightning: *mouth full of cookies* and Lightning signing off!

Me: Bye! *turns towards Lightning* Get back here with ma cookies!