Warning: This is a Shounen-Ai/Yaoi (meaning boy love) story. If you are offended by this, please leave now. I will accept no flames regarding this. Flame my spelling. Flame my grammar. You can even flame my logic (or lack thereof). But if you don't like Shounen-Ai/Yaoi and continue to read, you are the only one that should get roasted!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, nor do I make any profit from this story. I only borrow the characters because I love them and like to play with them and because they give my very mundane life meaning. How sad is that?


Chapter One: "Uh…Sorry, Wrong Number…"

It had been almost a year since Yugi's decisive battle against Atemu and the former Egyptian Pharaoh's return to the afterlife. It had been exactly one month ago that the dreams had started.

The second-place winner of Duelist Kingdom sighed tiredly, scrubbing dejectedly at his burning and bloodshot eyes. Lying there with his heart racing and his palms sweating, he swore under his breath, then turned over, groaning as his eyes caught the glowing numerals on the bedside clock. 3 a.m.? Not again! He always awoke at exactly the same time every night, plagued with an almost overwhelming sense of urgency, a feeling that something bad was about to happen (he had no idea what) if something wasn't done (again, he was clueless) but he couldn't pinpoint anything in the dreams themselves that would create that particular feeling. They contained nothing 'nightmarish' – there were no monsters, no distorted landscapes, no 'walking dead, flesh-eating zombies'; no death, blood or gore of any kind. That wasn't the problem. On the contrary, if anything, they were quite erotic. They reminded him more of his flights-of-fantasy regarding a certain teen-aged, blue-eyed 'dragon' except that, since the main character in these, good-looking or not, was considered to be a close friend – (insert Ewww! factor here) – well, let's just say that the 'flag' remained at half-staff, unlike when he awoke from his 'dragon' dreams. They were confusing – yes. Irritating; most definitely. Were they Scary? No. He shook his head. If anyone should be having these kinds of dreams about the Pharaoh, it should be Yugi…or Tea...or…both? He shook his head. I'm so not gonna go dere!

True, when he and the others had realized that Atemu (or 'Yami', as he was called before he recovered his real name) was indeed a separate entity from Yugi and was an ages-old spirit inhabiting the Millennium Puzzle – or his best friend's body whenever 'they' deemed it necessary (and not some sort of bizarre, psychological problem on the shorter duelist's behalf) – the group had been dumbfounded. Once that bit of startling information had been accepted though, along with the facts that Duel Monsters were real, that magic existed, and so did a place called the 'Shadow Realm' (all having been reinforced by the strange events that seemed to take place whenever the 'other Yugi' made an appearance) it hadn't taken them long to become fast friends with the darker being; he would even venture to say 'best friends', in his case. That was where his discomfort and confusion came in. He was sure that someone was trying to send a 'message' – and yes, he did mean Atemu, as crazy as that sounded – and that the dreams he was having were meant for the pocket-sized duelist, and not for him; after all, Atemu was the other half of Yugi's 'soul', not his. The only thing that he could think of was that, for some reason, they just weren't getting through, so like bad phone calls, they were being 'rerouted' to the 'next available operator'; namely, one Joseph Ryan Wheeler.

With an even louder sigh, the troubled blond rolled over onto his stomach, the twin bed's bedsprings squeaking loudly in protest at the movement. One month, and he still hadn't worked up the courage to say anything to his large-eyed friend. None of their tiny, tight-knit group would ever forget how torn up the smaller boy had been at the loss of his other 'self'; and even though he had seemed to be all right to Tristan, Tea and the others when they had returned to Japan after their short stay in Egypt, the amber-eyed teen knew exactly how keenly the other boy continued to feel the pain of that loss. Perhaps that was the reason why he wasn't getting the message. It couldn't get past the wall of hurt that the tri-colored haired teen was still carrying but trying so hard not to show.

Whatever the problem was, or wasn't, the 'knowing' wasn't giving Joey any clue as to what to do about it. He couldn't risk going to Yugi first – if he was wrong (he didn't think he was) and the dreams were nothing more than a fanciful wish or the result of his overworked imagination (he was sure they weren't) – he would never forgive himself for getting his young friend's hopes up for nothing. He needed to check it out before bringing the subject up, but that meant going back to Egypt, which he had neither the money (thanks to his lush of a father) nor the means (again, thanks to his old man) to do.

But he knew someone who did. However, getting up the nerve to face his long-time rival (and recently, albeit begrudgingly, acknowledged secret 'crush') to ask for help was one thing…

Getting the azure-eyed genius to believe him (especially if there was magic involved) and then convincing him to go along with his half-formed and still-being-worked-on ideas…

Well, that was another thing entirely.

~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning dawned bright and all too early. The summer sky was a clear blue and the sun warm as it kissed the skin, the slight breeze soothing the heat of its rays before they could become too much. It was a beautiful day, but the blond met it with a deep sigh, bleary-eyed and dead-tired, and wondering if he should have his head examined for even thinking of doing what he was on his way to do.

Dressed in the only suit that he owned – yes, he owned a suit (only because Tea had purchased it for him, telling him that he should have at least one, in case he had to go to a job interview or funeral or some such thing. She had gotten it at a second-hand store, which was all he could afford, so it was one size too big and had come along with a cheesy almost matching clip-on tie) – and with his hair freshly washed and combed (for all the good that that did) he made his way downtown to the Kaiba Corporation building with a cotton-dry mouth, his stomach tied in a knot that even a boy scout would be proud of, and wincing almost every other step as his 'only-worn-once' dress shoes pinched his toes.

Hanging his head, he sighed again. The things he did for his friends.

~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~

Seto Kaiba was already on his third cup of coffee when his 'secretary' – he used the term loosely (she was a temp, because his was on something called a 'vacation') – buzzed in to tell him that, apparently, there was a 'gentleman' at the front desk in the lobby requesting to see him that wasn't logged into his appointment book; what did he want her to do about it?

Holding back a sigh of exasperation, the brunet had started to tell her that if this person didn't have an appointment that anyone with half-a-brain would know to send him away, but instead, for reasons unknown, found himself asking for the name of the 'moron' who dared interrupt his, heretofore, very productive (and oh-so-very mind-numbing) morning. The answer had him nearly choking on the coffee he was sipping.

He could not deny that he had become a little more 'sociable', as his little brother would put it, towards Yugi and the loyal band of dorks (he wouldn't call them 'geeks' as he considered most of them to be, at least moderately-to-majorly, computer-illiterate) that followed the renowned 'King of Games' after the events of the recent past (how could he not?) but, he wouldn't count himself as being a 'friend' to anyone in the group, no matter what they wanted to think, and he had yet to be convinced as to the existence of any type of 'magic', no matter what strange occurrences had taken place in Egypt. He would find a logical explanation for everything that had happened one day…Damn them!

As soon as that thought had passed through his brain, the normally stoic teen winced. After all the nagging done by Mokuba – whom had started nearly the second they had taken off and had continued almost non-stop for a month after they had returned to Japan – as to how badly he felt that his older brother had treated the other teens "for no good reason, mind you", the CEO had finally broken down and promised to be more agreeable in any dealings that he had with them in the future...especially when it came to the blond, who seemed to be the younger Kaiba's favorite. Truthfully, his harsh view of the other boy had softened quite a bit (sometimes disturbingly so) during their 'adventures' and now, whenever they saw each other, their verbal sparring was more playful than vitriol. But, they still didn't make a point of seeking each other out. So, the youthful billionaire was very curious as to what was so important that it had provoked Wheeler, of all people, to come and see him directly. Not that he was really complaining, mind you. It was a beautiful day, his office was too dark and stuffy, he was bored to death, and the 'Chihuahua' was really cute and always amused him.

"I'll see him. Send him up." Smirking evilly, he took another sip of his coffee. This should be fun.

~~~~~~~~oOo~~~~~~~~

Standing outside of Kaiba's office door, Joey found himself wanting to do nothing more than turn around and march back the way he had come; double-time. Never before had the blond actually been afraid of facing the teenaged entrepreneur – in school or on the dueling field – but now, after just recently accepting the truth about his sexuality and how he really felt about the stubborn and arrogant brunet, he was suddenly unsure of how to act and what to say; and hoping beyond hope that he could just get this business taken care of before things spiraled out of control as they normally did – he really didn't want to end up in a shouting match today; not if he could help it. Taking a few deep breaths to try and steady his nerves, he found his traitorous mind replaying what had happened when Yugi had found out about his 'secret' a few days prior…and shared a surprising one of his own…

Joey's face flushed a delicate shade of pink as his gaze dropped to the floor. "Oh, come on Yug! Dat's not true!" Yugi grinned at his friend's sudden shyness.

"Sure, it is! You're very handsome; Mai sure thinks so…" He stopped when he saw Joey frown and shake his head.

"Mai…" The blond sighed, "…is not the one I wish would notice." His frown deepened. "But dat's a pipe dream dat will never happen."

"You have a crush on someone, Joey?" Yugi's eyes shone in delight. "Who is it? You can tell me!"

"You won't believe it, Yug. I can't believe it; but its da truth, and I can't ignore it any longer – though what good facing up to it is gonna do, I don't know. Make me feel like more of an idiot dan I already do, maybe." He sighed, again. "And what's worse, I don't know how you're gonna feel about it…"

"Me?" Yugi echoed in confusion, then "…It's not Tea, is it?" The fearful tone in his voice had the other boy quickly shaking his head and waving his hands in frantic denial.

"No! No! Nothin like dat, Yug! It's just…"

"It's just…what?" Joey's mumbled answer was indecipherable. "Come, again?"

"I said…it's a guy."

"You have a crush…on a guy…"

"…Yeah…"

"Oh…Ohhh!" The spiky-haired teen's amethyst eyes widened dramatically as he digested this new information. "So, you're into guys…not girls…I mean…yeah, okay."

The amber-eyed teen almost sagged with relief as his diminutive friend smiled up at him, telling him in a soft voice that – boy or girl, it didn't matter to him – that he, himself, liked both actually; then watched in sudden horror as the gentle smile faded and he paled to a shade of white that he'd never seen before.

"Uh, Joey…umm…it's…not…" The other inquired, in a hesitant voice, "well, it's not…me…is it?"

The blonds eyes widened, then his face flushed a scarlet red. "Uh…no…"

"Thank God!" Yugi took a calming breath and let it out slowly, his coloring returning to a semblance of normal, then added quickly, "Not that I would've minded, you understand…it just would have been…kind of…awkward. You know…the 'friend factor'." Joey mutely nodded his agreement, his face still somewhat rosy. "Well, Duke and Tristan are out, I assume." The affected boy grimaced.

"Nowhere close to bein on da list. Neva happenin."

"That only leaves…Bakura?" He received a firm shake of the head. "Not Duke. Not Tristan. Not Bakura…that leaves…" Yugi froze, his eyes growing to an impossibly enormous size as his mouth rounded into a perfect 'O'. Joey would have sworn that he was doing his best to impersonate a gaping fish. Finally, he just barely managed to squeak out the name, "…Kaiba?"

"I told you dat you wouldn't believe it." Joey groaned.

"But, Joey…you and he…I mean…" The smaller boy sputtered.

"I know. We're like oil and water. He pisses me off and I rub him da wrong way." The blonds' shoulders slumped and he couldn't help but sigh. "I neva wanted it to be dis way, Yug. I only got mad because of da way dat he talked to me. It…it hurt when he called me names – when he acted as if I was some dumb animal. It hurt and I got mad – but I neva called him anythin but 'Moneybags' or 'Rich-boy'…" He grinned ruefully, "…and 'Bastard' and 'Asshole' and 'Prick', of course." Yugi couldn't help but giggle. "But I neva said anything dat would make him feel like he was somethin dat needed to be scraped off da bottom of somebody's shoes." Joey's amber eyes darkened and suddenly had a watery sheen to them that made the other boy's heart lurch in his chest. His best friend seemed like he was about to cry.

"Is that the way he made you feel, Joey?" He asked the question softly, a tiny frown forming on his face.

"Yeah…" The blond looked away quickly before continuing. "And for da life of me, Yug – I've neva been able to figure out what I did for him to hate me so right-off-the-bat."

Yugi was silent for a moment, and then questioned in a solemn tone, "It's gotten better, Joey – hasn't it – since…the Pharaoh…?" He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to.

"Yeah, I guess…" Joey turned to face the shorter duelist again with a resigned sigh. "…but not enough; and you can only butt heads with a brick wall for so long, Yug before you realize dat de only thing dat you're doin is givin yourself a headache for no good reason. Kaiba is dat 'brick wall'…"

"…And your head hurts." Yugi finished for him, but was surprised when the other boy shook his head slowly in disagreement.

"No…my heart does."

Taking one last really deep breath, the frazzled blond locked the memory away, gathered his courage and reached up to knock on the double-doors but was interrupted before he could do so by the CEO's smooth, baritone voice. "Quit stalling, Wheeler and wasting my time. Get in here." Inwardly, the brown-eyed teen groaned.

It was just his luck. Not only was the brunet super-smart, super-good looking and super-sexy…the bastard had x-ray vision, too.


Author's Note: Well, what do you think? [Grins] This should be an interesting adventure for our two favorite boys – the first few chapters will set the scenario, and then the ride will begin! I hope that you will come along!