It had been nearly three weeks now since the Kaiba Corp annual gala, and business at Cup 'O Joe was booming. Joey had been forced to hire two new staff members (well one really, he didn't think that Tristan actually counted) just to keep up. It was really amazing what a little exposure could do.

Joey was finally feeling the burn of 'adulting' (at least that's what Serenity called it), spending seven days a week at Cup 'O Joe, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings starting a business class at the community college, and liaising with Fai about the mural he was supposed to paint at Kaiba Corp. It was no wonder that he was beginning to feel burnt out. It also didn't help that he had barely heard from one Seto Kaiba save for a few sparse text messages since their emotional confession on the night of the gala.

Joey had to push down the immense frustration he felt each time he thought about the steely eyed brunet; he was under the impression that they had made major progress in their relationship, but was apparently sorely mistaken. Joey did not take kindly to be ghosted, but he also refused to beg for the CEO's attention. Kaiba knew how Joey felt. He knew where to find him. If he had changed his mind about the things he said to Joey three weeks ago, then Joey couldn't change that…although he very painfully wished he could understand what had happened. His mind turned over the events of that night over and over, the vicious cycle of feeling angry and abandoned, then sad and confused…inevitably transforming back into anger again, and so on.

Joey absent-mindedly squeezed a swirl of purple icing onto a plush white cupcake, not noticing that the swirls became sloppier and sloppier as his mind wandered.

"Hey boss," Kurogane's gruff voice cut through the thick fog in Joey's mind, "you, ahh, you have enough on that one I think." Kurogane glanced at the tray of cupcakes as Joey snapped out of his trance. He hadn't realized that he had transformed one of the cupcakes into a leaning tower of icing with three times the normal amount of topping.

"Aw, fuck…" Joey grumbled as he scooped the icing off with a spoon and started again.

Kurogane wandered closer, eyeing Joey up with that intense ruby stare. "I'll finish that, you should go home."

"Nah, I'm good, man. I'm just a little tired," Joey forced a smiled at the larger man, "gotta get these suckers done," he gestured to the cupcakes, with their sad, sloped icing tops.

"Yeah, well…you're not doing a very good job." Kurogane was tactless. "And you look like shit." Very tactless.

Joey frowned, surrendering the icing bag to his burly employee, knowing that he was right (and hating it). He leaned against the counter as Kurogane took over the cupcakes and surveyed his bustling shop.

Serenity was wiping off an empty table in the sitting area, talking animatedly to a couple of girls who were sitting in plush, mismatched chairs by the window. As much as she annoyed the crap out of him, her customer service skills were probably the best of any of his employees. She had an effortless way of chatting to people about mundane things; the weather, the newest episode of Game of Thrones, how delicious the chocolate éclairs were, the KC Gala…

Wait.

"Oh yeah, it was amazing. So many cool games coming out next year! My brother is like best friends with Seto Kaiba too," Serenity was telling the girls, "he comes here all the time."

"Oh, wow," one of the girls said, "Kaiba is so hot!" She and her friend giggled as Serenity nodded in agreement. She leaned in closer to say something quietly to the girls; all three of them glanced in Joey's direction and giggled even harder.

Joey stood up straight, blushing furiously, and suddenly rethinking his earlier musings that she was so good at cozying up to customers. Too good, apparently.

He scowled at her from across the room, but decided it was best to turn his attention elsewhere…he didn't really want to be thinking about Seto Kaiba right now.

Joey glanced over at the till where Sakura (his other new employee) was teaching Tristan how to use the very uncomplicated cash register. Joey liked Sakura a lot; she was a sweet young woman with short auburn hair and green eyes that sparkled with kindness. She had experience working in a café before – someplace called the Cat's Eye Café – so she already knew how to handle a cash float.

"Right, and then you punch in whatever cash they give you…yes very good…ok, now hit the 'change due' button….no the change…ok, perfect!" Sakura was patiently guiding Tristan through a pretend transaction, "Great! And if it were a card instead of cash, you basically do the same thing with the card reader," she said calmly, pointing at the small machine next to the cash register.

"Oh right! Thanks, Sakura! I just can't seem to remember the steps," Tristan tapped his forehead lightly with the palm of his hand and gave her the 'gosh I'm a dummy, but aren't I just so cute?' look.

Joey rolled his eyes. He knew all of Tristan's lame pick-up techniques (they had perfected them together in high school), but was glad to see that Sakura wasn't falling for it. She smiled politely at him, but as he turned back to the register, he caught the faintest glimmer of frustration cross her emerald eyes (she had already gone through this process with him twice yesterday). Joey slid over towards the register as Sakura left to check on one of the ovens that was currently baking kaiser rolls.

"Do you have to hit on every woman you see?" he asked flatly as Tristan pretended to be enthralled with his new knowledge of the cash register.

"I don't know what you mean, Joseph," Tristan replied without looking up.

"Just don't go starting shit, ok? Serenity and Sakura get along really well and I don't need you trying to get into everyone's pants and starting drama, got it?" Joey warned, keeping his voice low so that Sakura couldn't overhear as she moved the kaiser rolls onto a tray to cool.

"Joey. Joey, Joey, Joey," Tristan finally looked up at the blonde, an annoyingly demure expression on his face, "I would never try anything with your sister," he placed a hand on his chest, as if his feelings were hurt at the accusation, "never, ever."

Joey's eyebrows furrowed as he stared at his friend, no words were needed as his expression clearly read, 'who the fuck do you think you're fooling'.

Tristan cleared his throat, eager to change the subject.

"Are you staying past close again tonight? You look like shit," Tristan said lightly as though he were commenting on how nice the weather was that day.

"Yeah, so I've heard," Joey sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, attempting to ease away the headache that was festering behind his eyes. "I don't know. I really have to look at the books tonight," Joey's said sourly. Making sure that all of his money was in the right place was the worst part of having his own business. Joey was not a numbers man and looking over old receipts and invoices just gave him anxiety.

"Why don't you go work on it right now so you can leave at a normal time?" Tristan slapped Joey on the shoulder, "I think we can handle things here without you, really." he nodded sagely, "I'm basically an expert at the register now. Kurogane is the cupcake king over there, Ren is talking care of your customers, and Sakura is finishing up the buns. We've got this. Go…Joey, seriously, scram."

Joey nodded slowly. Tristan definitely had a point. His cozy shop had never been so thickly staffed, and as long as Kurogane was there, he wasn't worried. He would trust the surly black-haired man with anything; he was basically the assistant manager.

"Alright," Joey caved, "I'll be in the back room. Come get me if anything goes fucky. And leave Sakura alone!" He shot Tristan one last warning glance as he grabbed all the transaction books and a folder full of invoices.

The back room was not exactly cozy. It was small and windowless and tended to be a bit warmer than the rest of the café. There was a rickety old table and two mismatched wooden chairs set awkwardly amongst boxes of ingredients and a large, ugly freezer. The lighting was terrible and it smelled a bit damp, but at least it was quiet.

Joey spread papers on the table in front of him and pulled out a calculator and a pencil and set to work.

He wasn't sure how long he actually managed to work before he fell asleep.

He was at home in his bed. It was familiar and safe and he knew immediately that he wasn't alone. His body was flush against another, warm and enveloping. The light from his bedroom window fell on them, casting a warm golden glow of early morning sunshine across their resting bodies. He could feel arms wrapped around him, feel warm breath moving the hair that fell across his face. It was peaceful and blissful and right. He tilted his head to look blearily up at the body cuddled so close to him.

"Kaiba…" he muttered.

Suddenly he was aware of how hot he was, and as he looked up, he was confused by the golden hair that flowed around him and the chocolate brown eyes that met his own.

Joey, the playful golden retriever, the dog who stole his name, stared back. His mouth was open wide, his tongue lolling stupidly over his teeth. The dog licked his face over and over, covering Joey in drool. As he licked and licked, his mouth opened wider, revealing white jagged teeth that seemed somehow sharper than before…. there was blood in his mouth. Was that Joey's blood? He touched his face, wondering why his skin was gone…

"JOEY!"

Serenity's voice jolted Joey from his dream.

He sat up, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth as he tried to regain his composure.

"Hmm…wha?" he managed to mutter, rubbing his eyes with his palms, "What's up?"

"Someone is here to see you," Serenity smiled, a bit too coyly.

"Who is it?" Joey asked, suddenly feeling much more awake.

Serenity shrugged and smiled, trying to be cute (annoying was the word that came to Joey's mind).

"Well I can't, I'm busy," he gestured pathetically to the pile of drool stained papers on the table in front of him.

"Oh my God, Joe, just come out! He came here to see you!" she rolled her eyes as she turned around to return to the rest of the store.

Joey's heart was beating fast now. He wasn't sure he was ready to see Kaiba now. He wouldn't know what to say to him.

He got slowly to his feet, took a deep breath, and walked out to meet the stupid bastard. If he had the gall to show up at Joey's work after not speaking to him for three weeks, he had another thing coming.

"Listen, you don't get special treatment just because you-" the words fell from Joey's lips as his eyes fell upon his visitor.

"Yugi!"

Yugi smiled so brightly at Joey, he thought he might go blind. He rushed forward and scooped his friend into one of Joey's famous bear hugs.

"I can't believe you're here!" he tried (and failed) to keep the emotion out of his voice as he buried his face in his friend's spikey hair.

The two friends stood, embracing in the middle of the bustling shop for several minutes. Patrons stepped awkwardly around them or stared disapprovingly, but Joey didn't care. Yugi was here. As far as Joey was concerned, in that moment, they were the only two people on earth.