Well, this was certainly a situation Seto Kaiba never thought he'd be in. Currently, he was back-to-back with the mutt, otherwise known as Joey Wheeler, being shipped to God know's where while being crammed uncomfortably in a wooden box. He wasn't worried about where he was going. No, he had money for that. He wasn't concerned about being trapped in a box till the ship docked in the next port. No, he had an extremely strong will for that. What he was bothered by was the mere fact that he had to deal with the person he hated most, after Yuugi of course, for God knows how long. Oh, yes. This was certain to end wonderfully. Provided Kaiba got to murder the blond indiscriminately afterword.
The same could be said for Joey too. He hadn't expected to wake up with a strong and warm presence behind him. In fact, he really didn't care for the box or being shipped out to sea either. He just couldn't believe that he had to be stuck in a confined space with Kaiba, his arch nemesis. Yet, believe it or not, that wasn't even the worst part so far. Oh, no. When he had woken up to the warm body, he had snuggled into it. He had snuggled into Kaiba. Of all the people in the world to show weakness too, it had to be Seto freaking Kaiba! He resisted the urge to beat at the wooden planks if only to escape his humiliation and occupy his mind with a different thought.
Kaiba had promptly shoved the mutt off him as best he could in their confined space upon feeling what Joey was doing. A few well-placed insults and degrading terms later, a thick silence had fallen over them. The tension was nearly tangible, and you could cut through it with a dull blade. He held in a sigh. He didn't know how long he'd be stuck in this box, but he hoped it wasn't for long. KaibaCorp couldn't be run without him. He really ought to fire the incompetent idiots he had hired. He reached into his coat for his phone to see if he could check up on the company, but he found that it was missing. It grated on his nerves, and his mind automatically thought of the worst thing that could go wrong in his absence.
Joey wasn't faring much better as he realized that he was going to miss his little sister's sixteenth birthday. Shizuka had been overjoyed when Joey said that he was dragging the gang up to celebrate with her. She was especially happy that Duke and Tristan were coming along. Joey didn't like them flirting with her, but she liked the attention. So, he let it go. For now. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and turned on the screen. The crate was dark, so when the screen came on, he had to blink a few times in order for his eyes to adjust. He thought that maybe he'd be able to call Shizuka and tell her what happened, but, to his infinite luck, his crappy phone didn't get any service.
"Shit," Joey cursed before turning the screen back off and immersing the box in darkness again.
"No service," Kaiba stated, and Joey knew it wasn't a question by the tone. "You should get yourself a better phone, Wheeler."
"If your phone's so fancy, why haven't ya tried gettin' your own service?" Joey shot back. He really wasn't in the mood to argue. He heard Kaiba sigh as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I don't have my phone, mutt."
"Well, who's fault is dat?"
"Obviously the scumbag who somehow managed to take my phone," Kaiba replied gruffly.
"Uh, huh. Sure." Joey didn't believe for a second that the great Seto Kaiba could be mugged without getting seriously hurt in the process. "Are ya sure ya didn't leave it at da office or somethin'?"
"I never leave anything important beyond my reach."
"Except Mokuba." A few seconds went by before Kaiba cursed. "Wha' is it?" Joey asked. He couldn't help but wonder what the CEO had just thought of. Kaiba hesitated for a couple seconds more as if debating about telling him or not and ultimately decided that it couldn't possibly be used against him in the future.
"Mokuba is expecting me to be home for the next couple of days for some 'quality family time' as he put it. I'm going to have an earful of him, and an earful from the company when I get back." Kaiba rubbed at his temple as if already feeling the headache he would get as a consequence.
"Ya think it'll take dat long for us ta get out of 'ere? Shizuka is expectin' me for her sixteenth birthday. Imagine da beatin' I'll get from Tristan an' Duke for makin' her cry." Joey shook his head. "I'll be ou' of school for a week!"
"A week out of school isn't so bad when compared to all the people I'll have to rehire for screwing up KaibaCorp. I'll be out for at least a month and a half. HR is going to have a fit again, and I'll have to tangle with my Board of Directors as well."
"Ya mean da Big Five? Da high-an'-mighty, lookie-at-all-da-money-I-got Big Five?"
"The only bastards who still work for the long deceased Gozubora, yes," Kaiba growled in disdain. "I'd love nothing more than to get them out of my way for all the trouble they've caused me!" Joey nodded in agreement. His hate for the brunet was pushed farther from his mind as they hated on the Big Five together.
"Yeah, dey caused da gang a lot of trouble too. Why do ya still work wiff 'em? Surely ya can fire 'em considerin' ya give 'em their paychecks an' all."
"It's more complicated than that," Kaiba said with a resigned sigh.
"Well, it shouldn't hafta be," Joey huffed. He crossed his arms and scooted around a bit. His butt was going numb, and he really didn't want to be sitting on pins and needles.
"Nothing should be complicated, but it is." Kaiba felt every movement Joey made and withheld the want to tell the annoying blond to sit still. He knew that he'd have to move around pretty soon as well if he wanted to feel his legs when they were free.
"Yeah, life's a bitch like dat." Joey had successfully positioned himself so the blood flowed into his butt, and he breathed a sigh of relief at the feeling. A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Hey, we're not gonna suffocate in 'ere, right? 'Cuz I don't wanna go ou' like dat."
"It's very unlikely we'll be in here for that long," Kaiba replied, forgetting to add a sassy remark. The thought had briefly crossed his mind as well with how much they were talking, but the box they were in wasn't air tight. While no one would be able to hear them should they cry out for help, oxygen wouldn't stop coming into the box just because of a few stacked crates on top of them. As if wood was a good sealant anyway. He nearly scoffed.
"Good," was all Joey said before they were silent. It continued like that for a while when Joey's eyes started to close. His head craned back until it rested against Kaiba's neck, but the blond didn't register the huff of annoyance from the brunet. He was already knocked out cold. Kaiba tried to nudge Joey off of him, but he only succeeded in making Joey move closer to him.
"If I had known you were a snuggler," Kaiba muttered distastefully but stopped his futile attempts. He too was pretty tired. He sighed again and resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to be rid of the blond anytime soon. The warmth that radiated off of Joey's body made his usually tense muscles relax. He hated the mutt. There was no doubt there, but as he placed the back of his head atop Joey's, he found that that position was much more comfortable than hanging his head to rest on his chest.
For that moment, Kaiba decided that, for once, it was in his best interest to rely on somebody else. The mutt wasn't so bad, but Kaiba also hadn't been insulting him as much. A strange thought occurred to him then. He had rarely even thought about insulting Joey. Kaiba quickly brushed the thought aside. He had been too preoccupied with his little brother and company to be concerned with putting the dog down. Yes, that was surely the reason. After all, he would have to kill the mutt now that they had a decent, or as decent as one can get with your arch enemy, conversation.